


Move Along

by pladicus



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Disabled Character, F/F, F/M, Lawyer!Lexa - Freeform, Wheelchairs, doctor!clarke, lawyer!Anya
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-31 05:14:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 51,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8565427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pladicus/pseuds/pladicus
Summary: Lexa is left to care for her seventeen-year-old sister after an accident that killed both of their parents leaves the younger Woods sibling paralyzed from the waist down. Lexa is forced to spend much of her free time away from the firm looking after her sister in the hospital, where she encounters the doctor that saved her sister's life.  Anna Woods face claim: Taissa Farmiga





	1. Chapter 1

Lexa could not help but feel like she failed. She failed her sister and her parents, and this was the universe's cruel way of punishing her.

 

"Ms. Woods," the doctor repeated, trying to get Lexa to focus her attention. "Can you understand me?"

 

"What happened?" Was all that escaped Lexa's mouth, and she wasn't even sure herself if there were words coming out, because her entire body was numb. She knew that her body was drenched in blood, in Anna's blood, but she couldn't remember anything past her parents' car crossing the intersection to arrive at Lexa's house for their weekly dinner. 

 

"Ms. Woods, your family has been in an accident and they're all currently in surgery. I need to see if you've sustained any injuries."

 

Lexa's glossy eyes moved from where they were staring at the tiled floor to the doctor's warm brown eyes. Warm, yet distant. Almost as if to tell Lexa that if anything happened, whatever the outcome, she would leave it all at her doorstep and forget about all the blood and gore she'd witnessed at work. 

 

"My parents?" Lexa asked, vaguely aware that the doctor was in close proximity to her and had been trying to get her attention ever since she'd arrived in the back of the ambulance, however long ago that was. "Anna?"

 

**

 

"Alright, what have we got here?" Clarke asked, opening the doors to the ambulance and helping the paramedics pull out the gurney with the patient, who looked to be a young girl. 

 

"Anastasia Woods, seventeen. Severe spinal trauma and minor head trauma, along with cuts and abrasions to various body parts," the paramedic told her, helping to rush inside with the gurney. "Conscious upon arrival at the scene, but lost it on the way to the hospital."

 

"Shit. I hate it when it's kids," Clarke cursed. "We're moving to OR one. Someone page Doctor Green!"

 

Hours later, Clarke found herself inside the operating room with Monty and a few of her residents by her side, Anastasia Woods on the operating table with her body exposed to the surgeons. 

 

"How are you doing over there, Monty?" Clarke asked, her eyes trained through the microscope as she worked on the girl's back. 

 

"I've gotten most of the glass out as I can, but we're going to need to flip her over for the rest," he told her, placing another small shard in the tray designated for waster disposal. "How's your end?"

 

"Not good," Clarke told him, and not even two seconds later, Clarke froze in her spot. "Shit. _Shit_."

 

"What's wrong?" Monty asked, looking up at Clarke from the cut he was working on. "That's not good. Why are you cursing?"

 

Clarke stayed silent and slowly pulled her instruments out of the girl's spine and handed them to the nurse, holding her hands up so as not to touch anything. "I need a status report on her parents."

 

"Clarke, this really isn't the time for–"

 

"Status report," Clarke repeated, glaring at the Asian boy across from her. "Who's operating on her parents?"

 

"Doctor Griffin, Doctor Blake and Doctor Jaha were operating in OR three on the mom and Doctor Wells Jaha and the other Doctor Blake were operating on the father in OR six," Harper said, completely confused as to why Clarke was demanding answers. 

 

"How are they doing?" Clarke knew it was stupid to ask, especially when Harper had used past tense. 

 

"They were called about two hours ago. Severe internal bleeding and the father's heart stopped and wouldn't beat again."

 

"Shit," Clarke cursed again, staring at the girl's exposed spine. "Does she have any other family?"

 

"Her sister is waiting in the lobby. It took me two hours to check her for wounds and get her to sign forms."

 

"Doctor Griffin, if you have something to say, spit it out, because we have a minor open on the operating table, and I would rather have her not bleed to death," Monty yelled.

 

"She's not going to bleed to death because I have to close her up," Clarke yelled right back, stunning her friend and colleague into silence. 

 

"What are you ta— are you crazy?" He hissed, staring wide-eyed at her. "I'm not operating on her spine, but even I know that there's no way that you're done this early."

 

"Because I'm not," she snapped. "I need the x-rays to confirm it, but I'm pretty damn sure that I'm going to have to tell that traumatized girl in the waiting room that she just lost both her parents and has to take care of her paralyzed sister for the rest of her life!"

 

"Clark—"

 

"I'm going to close her up and you're going to finish in here while I meet with her sister in the lobby," Clarke ordered, holding her hand out to take the next instrument in her hand. "Forceps, please."

 

Upon existing the OR and disposing of the surgical gown, Clarke made her way down to the waiting area in her scrubs and matching blue surgical cap. There were very few people at this time of night, especially on a Wednesday, and even if it was crowded, Clarke was certain that she would have been able to spot the girl nonetheless. Her body language made it obvious, and her blank expression mirrored someone who was in such a large state of shock that they couldn't feel anything. As Clarke approached her, she realized that her body language wasn't the worst part of it all. "Ms. Woods?"

 

The girl looked up at her, and Clarke felt her whole resolve break down when she saw the girl's eyes. They were dead.

 

"My name is Doctor Griffin. I operated on your sister, Anastasia, tonight," Clarke said. 

 

"Anna," she corrected, and Clarke softened at the soft tone of her voice.

 

"I operated on Anna tonight," Clarke rephrased, swallowing heavily as she approached the hard part. "Would you mind if I take a seat?"

 

The girl simply stared back at her, clearly not able to process what Clarke was saying or was going to say, so Clarke just took a seat next to her on the love seat. She had talked to her mother and Wells, and believed that it was best for just one doctor to deliver the news at once instead of having several different surgeons approach her and destroy her slowly. Since she was the one in charge of the only surviving victim, she felt it was best that she delivered the news. "Ms. Woods—"

 

"Lexa," she said, and Clarke could tell from the slight change in the girl's facial expression that she knew what was coming, that she was expecting the worst.

 

"Lexa," Clarke began, putting a hand over the girl's shoulder.. "Your parents and sister were rushed into surgery with major trauma and blows to different areas of the bo—"

 

"Doctor Griffin, please spit it out. I'm a big girl. I can handle it," Lexa told her, though the shaking of the girl's hands told Clarke otherwise. "You can rip off the bandaid. I promise that I won't get mad."

 

"Well, there's no easy way to say this, but your mother and father have passed while we were trying to save them. There was severe internal bleeding that caused them to lose too much blood and blind the doctors on locating the source of the bleeding." Clarke paused, gauging the Lexa's reaction, but the woman kept a blank face. "Do you understand me, Lexa?"

 

"My parents bled to death like animals on your operating table. Yes, I completely understand," Lexa answered, and her blank facial features made it hard for Clarke to determine whether that was sarcasm or an accusation or something else, but from the violent shaking of her hands that had now turned to fists, Clarke knew that she was trying to keep it together, to keep her emotions bottled up. It might have been considered borderline unprofessional had any of her other colleagues seen Clarke take a hold of Lexa's hands and give her some warmth, feeling some hope when Lexa squeezed her hands. "What about Anna?"

 

"Doctor Green is currently pulling out small shards of glass from her body."

 

"So, she's alive," Lexa concluded, narrowing her eyes as she studied Clarke's face. "What are you not telling me?"

 

"I need to confirm it, but I believe that Anna is paralyzed from the waist down, and that it is irreversible."

 

**

 

"Clarke!" 

 

The blonde looked from the X-rays that were being displayed on the monitor in front of her, turning to where the sound of her name being called came from the entrance of the room, where Lincoln was panting out of breath and in his sweats. 

 

"Lincoln, what are you doing here?" Clarke asked in confusion, looking at her father's old watch to check the time. "Your shift doesn't start for another four hours."

 

"Woods. Have you seen them?" Lincoln asked in between breaths. "I got the call from O after she got out of surgery. The four of them were carried here in ambulances."

 

"How do you know them, Lincoln?" Clarke asked, moving closer to where he stood in the threshold.

 

"They're family," he explained. "My cousins and my aunt and uncle. Octavia said she didn't realize until she remembered a picture I sent her of me and my cousins. Is Anna okay? O said you operated on her."

 

Clarke's faced softened at the revelation. "Lincoln, Lexa is okay. She's in a large state of shock right now. Anna suffered some cuts and abrasions, but there was damage to her spine."

 

Lincoln's eyes flickered to the X-rays behind Clarke's head, and he realized what those were even from a distance. "She's paralyzed, isn't she?"

 

Clarke avoided Lincoln's eyes. "The damage was already done by the time I realized what it was."

 

"And their parents?" He asked, tears spilling from his eyes, though the lack of their acknowledgement told Lincoln that he already knew what the outcome was. 

 

Clarke finally had the courage to look him in the eye, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Linc."

 

Lincoln laughed bitterly as he swiped the tears that were spilling down his face. "I finally know what it felt when you lost your dad, Clarke. The universe is a total bitch, isn't it?"

 

"Yeah, it is," she told him, taking him into a hug and rubbing up and down his back as he sobbed in her arms. "It's okay. You're going to be okay."

 

Octavia walked in on them less than five minutes later, a guilty look on her face when she saw Lincoln's state. She signaled for Clarke to leave them, and the blonde reluctantly backed out of the room to head to check on Anna in the ICU, only to pause when she saw Lexa waiting in the chair outside her sister's room. Clarke slowly approached her until she was directly in front of the elder sibling, watching as Lexa's eyes trailed up to meet Clarke's. 

 

"You need to go to sleep," Clarke told her.

 

"So do you," Lexa said, and it surprised Clarke a little. 

 

"I'm a doctor. Sleep doesn't exist for me," she said, and Clarke could've sworn that it gave her a ghost of a smile from Lexa, but that disappeared all too soon. 

 

"My sister is in that room. Our parents are dead," Lexa said, staring at Clarke with those dead eyes once again. "I need to be here when she wakes up."

 

"You'll be here when she wakes up," Clarke promised. "You're not allowed in there, and I'd rather not have you sleep in this hallway, so I would like to provide an alternative."

 

"I'm not on an episode of Grey's, am I?" Lexa asked, and Clarke could've said that it was a teasing tone. 

 

"We actually use in call rooms to sleep. Most of us here are too tired to have sex in there, despite what popular medical dramas may make you believe," she told her, later realizing that she was probably overstepping her boundaries. "Look, I understand if it may seem a little unprofessional, but I know that you're in no state to drive home tonight, and Lincoln might not be able to since he starts his shift in a little bit, bu—"

 

"It's okay, Doctor Griffin," Lexa reassured her. "But, are you sure that I'm allowed to do that?"

 

Well, considering that Clarke was a member of the board, she really didn't think anyone would say anything. "Don't worry about it."

 

Clarke led Lexa to the nearest on call room, which happened to be down the hall way from Anna's room. Clarke noticed her mother staring at her disapprovingly from the nurse's station, but the blonde merely went in there and turned on the lights, illuminating the room. "There's a bed for you in here. I really doubt anyone's going to be in this room, so you won't be disturbed. I'll bring you some water."

 

Before she could leave the room, Lexa took a hold of Clarke's wrist, stopping her from leaving. Clarke turned around and witnessed a vulnerable look on Lexa's face. "You'll tell me when she wakes up, right?"

 

"Of course," Clarke reassured her, watching Lexa let go of her hand and head to the bed before Clarke slipped out of the room. She'd barely closed the door on her way out before her mother approached her. 

 

"Clarke," Abby spoke, and the blonde jumped from the scare. 

 

"Jesus, mom. A little warning would have been nice."

 

"Clarke," Abby repeated, this time as a warning tone. 

 

"I'm not going to do anything," Clarke sighed, rolling her eyes in annoyance as she walked to get a water bottle from behind the nurse's station, Abby right on her heels. "She's in shock and needs to sleep it off."

 

"She's the family of a patient," Abby reminded her.

 

"I realize that," Clarke told her. 

 

"Then you should know when to draw a line."

 

Clarke picked up the water bottle and turned to her mother. "I love you, mom, I really do, but you didn't see what I saw. I volunteered to deliver the news, and you damn well better thank the universe that you didn't have to do it yourself. I've done this for years, but this one is sticking to me, and it would stick to you, too, if you saw what I saw."

 

"And what exactly did you see?"

 

"Dead eyes," Clarke answered. "Like the flame in her was put out, and like she didn't know how to function anymore. She didn't cry, barely spoke and was shaking the whole time. She's a hollow shell, mom, just like I was and still am when dad died."

 


	2. Chapter 2

"Can't sleep?" Clarke asked as she shut the door behind her, watching Lexa huddled on the bed and stare out the window.

 

"No," Lexa answered. It had been six hours since Clarke led her to the on call room, and all Lexa had done was stare out the window. She'd expected for doctors to come barging in midst a make out session, but so far, Clarke's words had been true and nothing of the sort had happened. Yet. "You don't have to come check on me, you know."

 

"Yeah, I kind of do," Clarke told her, occupying the chair next to Lexa's bed. Lexa's eyes hadn't left the view outside the window in hours, and she'd been huddled in a burrito blanket since she entered the room. "You need to sleep, Lexa."

 

"Doesn't mean I want to, or can," she said.

 

"I know," Clarke told her.

 

Lexa turned to Clarke with those same dead eyes and blank look on her face. "Do you really?"

 

**

 

"Alright, Anna. Now, I'm going to shine some light in your eyes, so I need you to keep them open for me, okay sweetheart?" Clarke asked, and only continued when the teenager nodded her head. Clarke pulled out her pen light, and she could feel Lexa's eyes drilling a hole in her head. "Would you like me to explain what I'm doing, Ms. Woods?"

 

"Yes, please," Lexa answered, tracking Clarke's movements. Clarke knew that she was on the edge, ready to pounce if she felt any threats or danger approach her sister. 

 

"I need to check for brain damage, and shining the light in her eyes will help me determine that," she explained just as Lexa's phone went off.

 

Lexa pulled out her phone in annoyance, scowling when she saw who it was calling her. "It's the firm."

 

"You should answer it," Anna told her sister, and Lexa hesitated. "Seriously, Lex. This is your job. Go talk to them on the phone. I'll be okay with Doctor Griffin."

 

"I won't be longer than a few minutes," Lexa promised, already answering it as she left the room. 

 

"So," Clarke began, turning her pen light off and moving away from Anna to write down some notes on the clipboard. "Your sister is a lawyer?"

 

"Yeah, she got her degree from Harvard and everything," Anna spoke proudly. "Mom and dad and I are really proud of her. She worked hard and she was offered a position at this big shot firm around here."

 

"Which firm?" Clarke asked, genuinely interested. 

 

"Stone and Lawson."

 

Clarke's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she moved to stand in front of Anna's feet at the foot of the bed. "Wow, your sister must either have made good friends with her college buddies or she's really smart."

 

"Both, but you wanna know what I think?" Anna asked, from where she was reclined on the bed. Because of her position, Anna couldn't see that her sister had re-entered the room, and Clarke's back to Lexa made it impossible to see the brunette come back inside. So, Lexa opted to lean against the frame of the door and listen in on their conversation. 

 

"What?"

 

"I think that she scares everybody, so that's why they took her in. If she can make the defense shit their pants, she's golden in the firm's book," Anna said, making Lexa smirk. 

 

"Wow, missy. You don't have a filter, do you?" Clarke teased, lifting the cover to reveal Anna's feet, while simultaneously using the blanket to block Anna's view. "Okay, Anna. I'm going to need you to wiggle your toes for me."

 

Lexa craned her neck to see Anna's response, but she she saw no movement. Clarke maintained a neutral expression at the lack of response, so she repeated her instructions, and yet again, yielded no results. 

 

"Okay, Anna. Thank you," Clarke told her, then moved on to compliment Anna's toenails while moving a pen on the sole of her left foot. "Wow, did you paint those toes yourself?"

 

"No, my friend Tris did them for me," Anna told her, and Clarke tried again when there was no change in Anna's tone, as if she couldn't feel it at all, which she likely couldn't. 

 

"Really?" Clarke asked, trying the other foot, but to no avail. 

 

"Yeah. She wants to open her own chain of spas. Says that she's gonna start with New York and then take over the rest of the world," Anna told her. 

 

"Wow, this Tris must have some huge dreams," Clarke said, scribbling a few notes on her clipboard. 

 

"Doctor Griffin?"

 

"Yes, Anna?"

 

"When can I see my parents?"

 

Clarke froze in the middle of her notes, lifting her head to look at Anna. "I'm sorry?"

 

"I asked when can I see my parents," Anna repeated, not able to crane her neck to look at her doctor due to the neck restraint they had placed. "Lex told me she got out of surgery before I did."

 

And this was Lexa's cue to announce herself. "An, Doctor Griffin and I still need to talk to the other doctors about mom and dad. Right, Doctor Griffin?"

 

Clarke clearly understood the message. Nobody had told Anna that she was an orphan now. "Yes, that's right. In fact, we were just going to talk to the other doctors about them right now. Doctor McIntyre will be here in a few minutes to take you up to get some scans done, alright?"

 

"Sure, but can you please lift this thing up? I'm pretty sure my legs are numb because I've been like this for a while. I need to move some blood around."

 

 _Yeah, that's not the reason you can't feel your legs_ , Clarke thought, but kept the sentence to herself. "Sure," she said, taking the remote to move the bed so that Anna could sit more comfortably. "That better?"

 

"Much. Thank you," Anna told her.

 

Clarke smiled and patted the girl's leg. "Hang tight. They'll be here with you in a few moments."

 

With that, Clarke closed the door behind her as she left the room, Lexa hot on her heels as the blonde handed the chart over to one of the nurses at the nurses' station. 

 

"Doctor Griffin—"

 

"You didn't tell her your parents are dead?" Clarke hissed, turning to Lexa with fury in her eyes. "Are you trying to let her down gently, because let me tell you that it's not going to work!"

 

"Mind your tone, Doctor Griffin. You are her doctor, not her guardian, which means that you do what is beneficial for her health, not her family affairs," Lexa shot back, gathering the attention of some of the nearby doctors. "Thats my issue to deal with. She's already paralyzed."

 

"I am doing what's best for her health. Her mental health!" Clarke spat. "You are withholding vital information about the condition of her parents. She thinks your parents are still alive when they're stone cold in the morgue!"

 

"And what do you want me to do, watch her break down when I tell her that she can see our parents at their funeral?" Lexa asked. "She's a kid!"

 

"So, why can't you rip off the bandaid? You're placing her in this little shell and using your body as a shield," Clarke told her, halting Abby's movements when the elder Griffin noticed the commotion. "Well, let me tell you something. She's going to find out, and if someone else tells her, it's going to be hell for you because you withheld information when you were someone she supposedly trusts!"

 

"Just because you watch people encounter these situations, it does not mean you are a professional at diffusing them!"

 

"So, you just want to sit back and watch it blow up in your face?"

 

"Doctor Griffin," Abby called out. "Enough!"

 

Clarke glared at Lexa before grabbing another tablet off of the nurse's table and stomping down the hallway, pushing through the crowd that had gathered around them.

 

Abby watched her daughter leave before turning to Lexa. "Ms. Woods, I apologize on behalf of Doctor Griffin. That was inappropriate and completely unprofessional of her. I completely understand if you want to replace her on this case. I ca—"

 

"Do you have anyone better than her?" Lexa asked Abby, glaring at Clarke's exit. 

 

"I beg your pardon?"

 

"Do you have any surgeon that has her experience or qualifications?" Lexa repeated, this time moving her eyes to Abby's. "According to what I could find, she's the best neuro consult and surgeon on this side of the planet. She's currently has the lowest death count in neuro in this country, and has had her name on four successful clinical trials in the last three years. From what I've gathered, she's our best shot. Do you have anyone better than her?"

 

Abby was stunned and a little surprised that Lexa had already read so much about Clarke. "No. She's the chief of neuro."

 

"Then she's staying on this case. My sister doesn't get anyone less than the best," Lexa told her before pulling out her phone and walking away.

 

**

 

"Anna, hold still for me, please," Clarke spoke into the microphone before handing Harper the tablet in her hands. "Please find Doctor Reyes and tell her I need a consult."

 

Harper left without a word. 

 

Octavia burst into the booth with the computer scans from Anna's tests. "Please tell me that you didn't explode on that kid's sister."

 

"I didn't explode on that kid's sister," Clarke told her, zooming in on the scans.

 

"Clarke," Octavia whined, walking in and slumping on the office chair next to the neuro chief. "Are you trying to get yourself fired?"

 

"No, but I'm human, and I'm going to explode when someone's being an ass," Clarke said, eyes analyzing the pictures in front of her. "Besides, she's not going to take me off of this case, so she can fucking deal with it."

 

Octavia scoffed at Clarke. "You basically called her an incompetent guardian in front of a bunch of doctors and your mom. How can you be so cocky right now?'

 

"One, I am the best neurosurgeon on this half of the planet—"

 

"I hate it whenever someone points that out."

 

"You know it's true," Clarke told her. "And two, my mother hasn't sent me a text telling me that I'm off this case. I know for a fact that she played ambassador after I left, so radio silence from her means two things."

 

"Which are?"

 

"To keep doing what I'm doing and remember that I'm going to get yelled at later," Clarke said, frowning when she saw the results. "God damn it. Why can't I have a happy day for once? These results are crap."

 

"Clarke," Octavia sighed. 

 

"This isn't about me," Clarke said, already stopping the conversation from where it was going to go. "This is about Anna and her life. I'm going to print these, and you are not going to follow, Octavia."

 

"Clarke!" Octavia called out after her, but the blonde simply ignored her as she moved down the hall, texting Harper to get Anna back into her room. Octavia sighed and rubbed her forehead, frowning when she heard sniffles. She looked around for the source of the sound, only to realize that it was coming from the intercom and that Anna had most likely heard their entire conversation. Her face paled and she grabbed a lead vest before rushing out of the booth to where Anna was and pulled her out of the machine quickly. "Anna. My name is Doctor Blake. Can you hear me?"

 

"I don't want to die," Anna said in between tears as the machine pulled her out. "Am I going to die, Doctor Blake?"

 

"Where did you get that idea from?" Octavia asked, frustrated as she wasn't out fast enough. 

 

"I can't feel my legs, Doctor Blake. I'm not stupid. Doctor Griffin touched my leg before she left my room," Anna said, pausing to sniffle and let more tears fall as the machine finally stopped. "I can't feel my legs. Why can't I feel my legs? How am I supposed to play soccer?"

 

"Anna, I think you should wait to ask Doctor Griffin. She was the surgeon who operated on you and she'd be more than qualified to infor—"

 

Anna's chest suddenly began heaving up and down. "I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I need air. Why can't I breathe?"

 

"Anna. Hey, Anna, you're okay," Octavia told her. "You're having a panic attack. I need you to look at my eyes and start counting backwards from a hundred for me. Can you do that?"

 

Anna was clawing at her neck brace. "Get this thing off of me! I can't fucking breathe!"

 

"I can't do that, Anna. I need to keep your ne—"

 

Octavia was cut off short by the sudden limpness of Anna's body when her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "Shit. Anna? Can you squeeze my hand?" When she received no response, Octavia took out her pen light and immediately shined it in her eyes. "This is Doctor Blake, Anna. Can you hear me?"

 

Harper walked into the room at that moment and immediately realized that something was wrong. "What happened?"

 

"I need some help in here!" She called out, and Harper immediately exited to get a few nurses and a gurney. "Someone page Doctor Clarke Griffin and kick whoever's in CT out!"

 

Octavia immediately helped move Anna onto the gurney and rushed down the hall. "McIntyre, have an OR on standby!"

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

"What the hell happened?" Clarke asked as she burst into the OR, slipping into the surgical gown and gloves with help from the surgical nurses.

 

"She had a panic attack after you left," Octavia told her as Anna was given some anesthesia. "And then her eyes rolled to the back of her head, so I took her to CT. It's a brain bleed."

 

"Shit. How did I not catch this?" Clarke muttered to herself.

 

"Griff," Octavia said. 

 

"What?" Clarke asked rather aggressively as she looked at the CT scans Harper held out for her.

 

"Your mic was on in the booth. This kid heard everything you said," Octavia told her, and Clarke felt her heart stop for a few seconds. "She also knows that she can't use her legs. Her sports career is dead, Griffin."

 

Clarke clenched her jaw and turned to Octavia, nodding her head at her before the anesthesiologist told Clarke that Anna was completely under. "McIntyre, scrub in."

 

**

 

" _I can give you two weeks at most, Lex,_ " Anya told Lexa over the phone. " _But, you go to court the Wednesday after those two weeks, and you know I can't do anything about that for you._ "

 

Lexa ran her fingers through her hair, and sighed in frustration. "Okay, fine. I'll take it."

 

" _I'm sorry, Lex,_ " Anya said. " _I can do the funeral arrangements while you stay with Anna._ "

 

"I really don't want to talk about burying my parents over the phone, Anya."

 

" _Right, sorry. I'll discuss this with you when I come see you at the hospital, I guess,_ " Anya said rather awkwardly. She didn't really understand the ethics of talking to someone who just lost their family. " _Hey, listen. I'm about to head into the courthouse, so I'll talk to you later._ "

 

"Yeah. I've got to go check on Anna and her scans. Thanks," Lexa told her before hanging up. She stared down at her phone, thumbs tracing over the faces of her parents and sister as her screensaver. When she saw that it's been over half an hour since they probably took Anna to get some scans, Lexa pocketed her phone and re-entered the hospital, taking the elevator to the floor where her sister's room was located. Lexa frowned when she saw that the room still lacked the presence of her sister and Doctor Griffin, so she turned to a doctor that was writing some notes on a chart at the nurse's station. "Excuse me?"

 

The doctor lifted her head up and Lexa could have sworn that she recognized her, but Lexa thought nothing of it as she glanced at the name printed on the lab coat. "Doctor Blake?"

 

"How can I help you?"

 

"I'm looking for Doctor Griffin. She took my sister to get some scans a while ago and I just wanted to know where she was so that I could talk to her."

 

"Which Doctor Griffin?" Octavia asked, and she knew that she was playing dumb, but she really hated being placed in this situation, so she might as well have dragged it out for a while. 

 

"Sorry?"

 

"There are two Doctor Griffins in this building," Octavia explained. "Doctor Abby Griffin is the chief of surgery and Doctor Clarke Griffin is the chief of neurosurgery. Which Doctor Griffin are you looking for?"

 

"Oh, uh, Doctor Clarke Griffin, I guess," Lexa said. Clarke. That was an interesting name. 

 

"Doctor Griffin is currently in surgery," Octavia said. 

 

"Oh. I thought she was taking my sister to get some scans."

 

"It was an emergency surgery," Octavia told her.

 

"Well, do you think that you could find out where my sister is, whether she's still getting scans done or something? Her name is Anastasia Woods."

 

And that is where Octavia was cornered. "Ms. Woods, your sister is the one being operated on by Doctor Griffin."

 

**

 

"God dammit! I can't see anything!" Clarke clicked her tongue as she tried to stop the bleeding. "Suction!"

 

"Her first CT scans didn't show anything," Harper said. "All I saw was a small congenital AVM. I didn't think much of it."

 

"I saw that, too, but I was too focused on her spine," Clarke sighed just as the monitor began beeping with signs of distress. 

 

"BP is dropping," Harper told her once she flicked her gaze to read the monitor, jumping to start compressions when Anna flatlined. "Shit, she flatlined."

 

"Push twenty-five of mannitol," Clarke instructed as Harper applied compressions on her body. 

 

"Compressions aren't working," Harper said. "Get me a defib and charge to 120."

 

The surgical nurse placed the stickers on Anna's body and handed Harper the paddles. 

 

"Clear," Harper called out, and everyone pulled their hands away from the body before Harper charged it, showing no improvement. "Again!"

 

"Charging," the surgical nurse told her before the machine beeped to signal that it was ready. 

 

"Clear!" 

 

There was a deadly silence in the OR before the heart monitor picked up again, and they all breathed a sigh of relief before Harper removed the paddles and Clarke went back to working on the brain. "McIntyre, check her pupils for me."

 

Harper took the pen light from the nurse and moved to crouch in front of Anna's head, opening her eyelids and shining a light through them. "No fixation, no dilation. We're in the clear. We're okay."

 

Just before she could insert her tools back into Anna's brain, Clarke took a moment to close her eyes thank whatever divine force was out there, because she was sure, she was _certain_ , that if Anna had died on that table due to cardiac arrest, Clarke would relive her nightmare all over again, and this time, she wasn't sure she would be able to push through it again. 

 

"Doctor Griffin?" Harper asked, unsure of what was happening.

 

Clarke reopened her eyes and blinked several times before focusing on Anna. "Let's move, McIntyre. This kid is going to open her eyes in a few hours."

 

Within some time, Clarke had managed to stop the bleeding and while she could have left Harper to finish and close up, Clarke took the time to place those staples in Anna's head, swearing to herself that she was going to do every damn thing that Anna needed to have done, even if it was to give her meds at night. When the last of the staples had been put in, Clarke breathed a final sigh of relief and told them to wait for her while she scrubbed out so that she could take Anna to her room. 

 

"Doctor Griffin," Harper spoke as they were both in the middle of scrubbing out. 

 

"Yes, McIntyre?" 

 

"I don't want to overstep any boundaries here, but are you okay?" Harper asked out of concern.

 

Clarke paused before she washed all of the soap off of her hands. "I will be. Good job in the OR today," Clarke told her, moving to dry her hands. "I'm going to take Anna to her room and update her sister, but after this, my shift is over. Keep me updated on her condition and if anything happens, page me immediately."

 

"Yes, ma'am," Harper said, watching Clarke give her a rare smile before walking out. 

 

Clarke tugged her surgical gown tighter around her body, the cool hospital air obviously not providing her any warmth. Upon reaching Anna's gurney, Clarke motioned for the other nurses to begin moving her to her room in recovery, and Clarke stayed there for several minutes to get her situated before she left, encountering Octavia in the hallway.

 

"Hey," Octavia said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her lab coat. "How'd the surgery go?"

 

"She's alive," Clarke answered, and Octavia frowned at her response. Clarke was keeping everything bottled in, going against the advice she'd given Lexa earlier. "Have you seen her sister?"

 

"Yeah, I actually was the one who told her that Anna was in surgery, and now I see it," Octavia told her. "She reminds me of you wh—"

 

"I've had a long shift, O," Clarke reminded her, cutting her friend off. "I want to go home and I'd very much rather not have you recount my dark days to me. Do you know where Lexa is?"

 

Octavia pursed her lips and nodded, clearly receiving the message that Clarke wasn't ready to talk about it, or anything else other than work as a matter of fact. "She's in the lobby with Lincoln. He's scheduled for surgery in half an hour, so you made it just in time."

 

Clarke nodded once at Octavia, and before she could bypass her, Octavia stopped Clarke. 

 

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Octavia asked her, looking straight into Clarke's eyes. "It helps to talk about it to other people."

 

"The exact reason why I _don't_ want to talk about it," Clarke told her, pushing past Octavia to get to the waiting room, where she found Lexa leaning her head against her cousin's shoulder. Upon arriving and spotting Clarke, Lexa immediately shot up and walked briskly to meet Clarke halfway. 

 

"Is she okay? What the hell happened?" Lexa asked, stopping in front of Clarke with Lincoln right behind her.

 

"She's fine. She's okay," Clarke reassured her, holding onto Lexa so that she would feel some sense of warmth. "The accident caused some damage to a weak spot in her brain, but we managed to stop the bleeding. I just took her to recovery, and she should be awake by tomorrow."

 

Lexa breathed a huge sigh of relief, and would have collapsed on the ground had Clarke and Lincoln not been there to catch her. Lexa closed her eyes and pulled Clarke in for a hug, whispering a million thank yous into her ear.

 

Lincoln gave Clarke a thankful smile and his pager went off, apologizing for the sudden interruption and telling them that he had to leave. 

 

Lexa pulled back from the hug and retracted her hands, shoving them in her pockets so that Clarke couldn't see them shaking again. "Can I, um, can I see her?"

 

"I can't let you in there for a while. I'm sorry," Clarke told her. "It's probably best if you go home and get changed and come back tomorrow."

 

"I can't leave her alone in here, Doctor Griffin. She's going to be scared and confused and she's my sister. She needs me," Lexa said, willing to not let tears fall. 

 

"Lexa, listen to me. You staying here is not going to change anything. You need to go home and shower and change so that you can be here tomorrow to put on that brave mask for Anna," Clarke told her, looking Lexa straight in the eyes as she did so. "She's going to be in recovery all night. You haven't slept in what looks like two days. If you don't give yourself time to regroup, you're going to collapse, and Anna needs someone to be there for her. If you're not at your best, how are you going to be that person for her?"

 

Lexa brought her lips into a thin line and nodded her head in understanding, blinking her eyes several times. 

 

"I know you're worried, but I've got some of the best people I know monitoring her condition all night, and if anything happens, I swear to you that I'm going to do everything that I can to help her. Lincoln is working the whole night, and I have no doubt that he's going to be checking up on her, so I need you to go take care of yourself first, okay?"

 

"Okay," Lexa said in a small voice.

 

Clarke smiled softly at her, squeezing her shoulder in a comforting manner. "Good. So, my shift is over after I get changed, but I have my resident on strict instructions to keep me updated and page if anything happens. I know that you rode in the back of an ambulance to get here, and I don't feel comfortable letting you take a taxi home, so would you like me to give you a ride home?"

 

"Yeah, um, that would be great, actually," Lexa said.

 

"Okay. I'll meet you back here in twenty minutes," Clarke promised, dropping her hand from Lexa's shoulder and beginning to walk away.

 

Clarke's lack of contact cooled Lexa's shoulder, and before she knew what she was doing, Lexa called out Clarke's name, making the stop and turn around with a questioning look. "Thank you, and I'm sorry about earlier."

 

Clarke merely smiled and nodded her head once before continuing her journey to the attendings' lounge, where she found her mother waiting for her in an armchair.

 

"Clarke."

 

"Not today, mom," Clarke told her, moving to where she stored her change of clothes and immediately took off her shoes and scrubs. "I spent most of the day in surgery and I almost lost the girl, so I just want to end it with a nice cup of tea at home without any headaches."

 

"Clarke, you yelled at a patient's family in front of your colleagues and visitors. Please explain to me how this sets an example to the other doctors in the building."

 

"It doesn't, mom. Is that what you want to hear?" Clarke asked, taking out her shirt and pulling it on rather aggressively.

 

"That was unprofessional and inappropriate of you, Clarke, and you should know better."

 

Clarke scoffed and rolled her eyes as she slipped into her jeans. "And I do, but I am not a robotic surgeon that can hide her emotions all the time. At some point, even I have to want to yell or punch someone."

 

"Well, don't release your anger at a patient or a visitor," Abby snapped.

 

Clarke clenched her jaw and stood up, throwing her shoes into her storage space. "You do _not_ get to tell me what to do. I came here because you needed me here. I bought shares of this hospital because you were going to lose it, so I helped you save it. I love you, mom, but you should really know your place and stop acting like a hypocrite, like you know what's inappropriate and what isn't. I don't want to blow up on you, but the way this conversation is headed, it's going to happen. I get your message loud and clear. Don't do it again. We don't need to sit down and talk about it and you don't need to lecture me about 'mistakes' like I'm in high school. I'm an adult and I damn well know what I'm doing, so have a good night."

 

Clarke slammed her cabinet closed and grabbed her jacket, purse and shoes before slamming the door behind her on the way out. She slipped into her sneakers and checked over Harper's report on Anna before making her way down to the lobby, where Lexa was sitting and staring into space. Clarke smirked and walked over to her, waving a hand in front of Lexa's face, startling the girl. 

 

"Sorry, I was just thinking," Lexa said, struggling to think of the last word as she stood up. 

 

"That's okay," Clarke told her. "Are you ready to go? Do you have everything you need?"

 

"Well, my clothes were covered in blood when I came here, so I really only have my keys and phone in my pockets," she told Clarke, shrugging as she pointed to the scrubs she was given to wear.

 

"Okay, let's go," Clarke told her, leading her out the main entrance. Lexa slowed as they approached the parking lot, and when Clarke turned to glance at Lexa, she saw her frozen in her spot ten feet behind Clarke.

 

"I'm sorry," Lexa said weakly, staring at all the cars in the parking lot. "I just can't."

 

Clarke walked back to where Lexa stood, shivering slightly due to the cool air. "Hey, it's okay."

 

"The cars," Lexa said, thinking back to the destroyed car in front of her house. "I jus—I can't go in one. I can't sit in one."

 

"It's okay," Clarke repeated, rubbing Lexa's arm gently. "We won't ride in a car."

 

Lexa turned to Clarke. "Then how are we going to leave this place?"

 

Clarke smirked and just handed Lexa her leather jacket. "Just put this on and follow me."

 

Lexa sent Clarke a questioning look, but followed her orders as the blonde continued through the parking lot, taking her keys out and moving behind a large SUV. When Lexa caught up with her, her eyes shot up in surprise as Clarke leaned against their mode of transportation. "Have you ever ridden a motorcycle before, Lexa?"

 

"No, and you don't seem like the kind of woman to ride one, either," Lexa told her watching Clarke fake offense as she pulled out a spare leather jacket from the bags strapped to the motorcycle.

 

"And what kind of vehicle do I look like I drive?" Clarke asked her, curious at her answer. She unfolded her jacket and slipped her arms through the sleeves, raising a brow as she waited for Lexa's answer.

 

"I don't know. You're blonde and pretty, so maybe a beetle or something like those college girls in sororities," Lexa shrugged.

 

"So, you think I'm pretty?" Clarke asked, smirking at Lexa.

 

Lexa didn't realize that she'd said that until Clarke pointed it out, and she struggled to provide an answer without insulting her sister's doctor or make a bigger fool of herself. "It's not that I don't think you're pretty, which you totally are, but I meant was—I think that—well—"

 

Clarke merely rolled her eyes and shoved a helmet into Lexa's hands. "Just shut up and put this on."

 

Lexa realized that Clarke was giving her an exit from embarrassing herself further, so she took it and put the helmet on her head, flipping the visor when she realized that Clarke was only putting goggles on. "Don't you need a helmet?"

 

"Well, according to the law, I only need something to cover my eyes, and since the helmet has tinted visors and it's nighttime, I need to wear the goggles so I can see where I'm going," Clarke told her, rolling her eyes when she saw Lexa give her a concerned look. "I'll be fine. I would've done this whether I gave you a ride home or not, so don't even think about giving me that helmet. Where do you live?"

 

"Corner of Washington and La Salle," Lexa told her, making Clarke whistle as she straddled her motorcycle and start it. 

 

"Damn, you must be one hot shot lawyer to live there," Clarke said, kicking up her kickstand. "Alright, hop on, your honor."

 

"I'm a lawyer, not a judge," Lexa said, straddling the bike and hesitating on where to put her arms.

 

Clarke rolled her eyes and turned to snap Lexa's visor shut before guiding her arms to wrap around her waist. _Wow, those are strong ar—inappropriate thoughts, Clarke!_ "Stop being a pussy and hold on tight. When I lean, you lean with me."

 

Lexa wrapped her arms tighter around Clarke and Clarke had to bite her lip to not spill her thoughts aloud. She backed out of the parking spot and revved her engines before driving out of the hospital parking lot. Lexa had certainly felt better that Clarke wasn't going to drive her home in a car, and she knew that statistically speaking, a car was much safer than a motorcycle was, but that accident ruined it for her. She didn't think that she could ever sit in or drive another car every again, which was going to be a problem for her since she worked in a highly respected firm, but she honestly didn't care. Her comfort and her sister were above anything else at the moment, and if her firm was going to terminate her based on appearances, she could leave and find a job elsewhere. 

 

Riding in the motorcycle gave her a free sort of feeling. She could feel the air whipping against the leather jacket she was wearing, and she was enjoying the rush of adrenaline. As Clarke turned onto Washington Avenue ten minutes later, Lexa could feel her heart stop and time slow around her as they approached the intersection where her parents' car was t-boned. Flashes of the accident replayed in her mind, and Lexa felt like she couldn't breathe. Before she knew what she was doing, Lexa let go of Clarke to tuck and roll onto the roll, wincing in pain when her head and body hit the ground and she spun several times. She was pretty sure that she did what she saw in action movies, but damn that hurt like a bitch.

 

Clarke immediately pulled over and killed the engine on her bike, getting off to tun to where Lexa was lying on the ground fifty feet away from her. Upon reaching her, Clarke pulled off her goggles and knelt down to pull the helmet off of Lexa's head, yelling at the lawyer when she saw her face. "Are you crazy? What the fuck were you thinking? You could be seriously hurt!"

 

Lexa groaned and put a hand to her head. "That hurt."

 

"Of course it hurt, you idiot!" Clarke said, pulling out her phone and turning on the torch light so that she could get a better look at Lexa's eyes. "Open your eyes and look up." Lexa did as she was told and Clarke did a quick check up, then held up her finger in front of Lexa's eyes. "Follow my finger."

 

When she saw Lexa respond positively to all of her tests, Clarke turned off the light and pocketed her phone before checking for other wounds.

 

"I'm okay. I'm fine," Lexa insisted, sitting up even though she was a little sore from the fall. 

 

"You're lucky is what you are that you jumped off when I was turning the corner. Your scrubs ripped at the knees, but I don't see any obvious trauma to the body or abrasions."

 

"Clarke, you're the doctor, not me. I have no idea what you just said."

 

Clarke rolled her eyes as she helped Lexa stand up. "That means I don't see any obvious blows to the body or cuts."

 

"Ah," Lexa said in understanding, reaching down to grab the helmet off the ground. "Well, you know. They say that if you constantly roll your eyes, they're going to roll to the back of your head one day where you can see your brain."

 

"I'd like to see the medical paper and research on that," Clarke challenged, watching Lexa smile when she stood back up. 

 

"I believe it comes from the Journal of Unproven Sayings."

 

"Wow. That's a go-to journal for a lot of bullshit you hear in life, you know," Clarke said mockingly as they moved to walk on the side walk towards the motorcycle.

 

"I do, which is why I use its pages as a bathroom for my cat," Lexa added on.

 

"You have a pet?" Clarke asked.

 

"No, but it seemed like a perfect add on."

 

Clarke only shook her head in amusement. "Okay, well, are you going to let me drive you home now or are you going to ignore the elephant in the room?"

 

Lexa stopped when in front of Clarke's motorcycle to look down the street at the intersection, flashes of the accident filling her mind. She shook her head and turned to Clarke, holding on tightly to the helmet to the point where her knuckles turned white, which Clarke definitely noticed. "Would you mind driving me to a hotel instead?"

 

Clarke raised a brow at her request. "Do you not realize how sketchy this city is? I'm not taking you to a hotel."

 

"I can't go back there, Clarke," Lexa said, and she realized that it was the first time she'd used the doctor's first name.

 

"I know," Clarke told her, and the look in her eyes made Lexa feel like she could somewhat relate to her. "But you only have your phone and keys with you. So, that must mean that your wallet is at home, am I right?"

 

"Yes," Lexa told her, realizing that she had no money with her.

 

"So, that means you can't pay for a hotel anyway," Clarke said, putting her goggles back on before straddling her bike and turning it on. "Hop on. You're staying at my place tonight." When she saw Lexa's hesitation, Clarke rolled her eyes. "For the love of God, you're my patient's sister. I'm not taking you to my house to kill you. You'd sue my ass as soon as you'd kick it. Hop on and shut up."

 

Lexa put on on her helmet and got on the back of the motorcycle, and Clarke waited for Lexa to secure her arms around Clarke's waist before making a u-turn and taking off, only to slow down at the end of the block in front of a red light. 

 

"That was an illegal u-turn," Lexa told her. 

 

Clarke shrugged uncaringly. "Oh, well," she said before pressing down at the accelerator when the light turned green. Clarke's house was only a five minute drive from Lexa, right in the middle between the hospital and Lexa's house.

 

Clarke pulled into her driveway and kicked the kickstand before killing the engine. Lexa took off the hemet and ran a few fingers through her hair, then she saw the CRV next to them and raised a brow. "I thought you were too badass to drive cars."

 

"One, I never said that," Clarke informed her as she got off her bike to move to the other end near the bags. "Two, I am too badass for a car, and three, that's not my car. You can just leave the helmet on the seat, by the way."

 

Lexa stood up from the motorcycle and left the helmet on the seat, watching Clarke take off her extra jacket and goggles to replace them with the purse she'd put in the bags before closing them and leading Lexa up the walkway to her porch. The house had a modern look to it, and seemed to have lots of windows, which must be quite the view when it's sunny. Lexa climbed up the steps to the porch and noticed a porch swing on one end and a wicker couch with some cushions on the other. 

 

Clarke took out her keys and unlocked the door before stepping into her house, leaving the door open for Lexa to enter. "Aden, I'm home!"

 

Lexa walked in and nearly tripped over a gym bag that was by the door, causing Clarke to turn around and frown.

 

"Shit, sorry. I told him a million times not leave his bag by the door," Clarke said, moving the bag into the hall closet. "Aden!"

 

"It's okay," Lexa told Clarke as the two of them took off their shoes after Lexa closed the door. "Boyfriend?" Lexa asked, pointing to the size eleven sneakers by the door. "Because I'd completely understand if he doesn't feel comfortable with me staying here."

 

"No, no boyfriend," Clarke told Lexa, holding out a hand for the leather jacket that Lexa was taking off. "I'll take care of that for you."

 

"Thanks," Lexa said, handing over the jacket and watching Clarke hang it in the hall closet. "So, is he your husband then?"

 

Clarke snorted at the absurdity of the thought. "Nope. You know, this and the compliment earlier makes it kind of almost sound like you're interested in me."

 

Lexa flushed in embarrassment and just followed Clarke to the kitchen. "I just don't want to make Aden feel like I'm a burden in his home."

 

"I invited you here, and if you were a burden, I'd have left you at the hospital or on the side of the road. Trust me, it's fine," Clarke reassured her, moving to the fridge to pull out a few water bottles. "Aden!"

 

"I'm here, mom," a deep voice said upon arrival in the kitchen, and Lexa's eyes bulged when she heard him. He was her son? This kid looked like he was in high school, and there was no way that Clarke was over thirty-five.

 

"I called you three times, A," Clarke said, avoiding Lexa's eyes and handing her son a bottle of water. 

 

"Sorry. I had some music on while I was lifting some weights," he said before kissing her cheek. "How was work? Is aunt Raven done with her shift tomorrow? I saw this cool—"

 

"The answer is no," Clarke told him, already tossing out the idea that he was going to be alone with Raven. "And work was stressful like usual."

 

"Come on, mom. Please?" Aden begged. 

 

"No. The last time I left you and Raven alone, I had to buy a new microwave and get a landscaping company to fix half of our backyard," Clarke reminded him. "Please be a courteous host and introduce yourself to Lexa. She'll be staying the night."

 

Aden pouted and turned away from his mom to introduce himself to Lexa. "Hello, my name is Aden. Nice to meet you."

 

"Lexa," she said, shaking his hand and flicking her eyes to Clarke, who moved to pull out some leftover lasagna from the fridge. 

 

"Stop leaving your gym bag by the door and go take a shower. I left the bag in the hallway closet, by the way," she told him, closing the fridge with her butt. It was a nice butt by Lexa's standards, who immediately looked elsewhere when she realized that she was checking Clarke out. "Did you eat?" 

 

"Yeah. Tris and Charlotte came by to work on a project and we ate some of the lasagna."

 

"Did you finish your homework?"

 

"Yes, mom," Aden said, rolling his eyes as he took out a few plates and forks for Clarke and Lexa. "By the way, I need you to sign a field trip form for me. We're going to a courthouse for my government class."

 

"Okay. Just leave it on my bed and I'll leave it out for you on the dining table in the morning," Clarke told him, taking a knife to slice the lasagna. "You want to do anything for your birthday next week? Raven, O and I have that night off to celebrate with you."

 

"No, not really. Maybe invite Tris and Char for dinner or something. I don't really think my eighteenth birthday is something to throw a house party over. All it really means is that I have to pay taxes and I get to vote."

 

"Okay, Debbie Downer. If that's all you need, then go take a shower. You stink, and I don't want our guest to die from your stench," Clarke said, placing the lasagna on the plates. 

 

"Okay, love you," Aden told her, kissing Clarke on the cheek. "Goodnight Lexa. It was nice meeting you. Night mom."

 

"Goodnight," Lexa and Clarke simultaneously said as he exited the kitchen.

 

"Pick up your bag!" Clarke yelled as an afterthought. 

 

It was quiet after than, save for the sound of his footsteps and Clarke operating the microwave, until the blonde herself spoke up.

 

"You can ask, you know."

 

Lexa watched Clarke turn around as the microwave hummed behind her, heating up one of the plates. Clarke leaned against the kitchen island, across from where Lexa took a seat on one of the stools. 

 

"I won't," Lexa said, surprising Clarke. "It's none of my business, and if you feel comfortable telling me, then you will. I'm not going to judge you."

 

Lexa must've said the right answer, because Clarke smiled softly at her words. "His name is Aden, and I had him when I was fourteen, so that makes me thirty-two. His father is dead, and my best friends and I live together, so it's kind of like he has three moms."

 

"Wow, you're two years older than me," Lexa said in realization. 

 

"I tell you that I'm a teen mom and the first thing that comes out of your mouth is about our age difference?" Clarke asked flatly.

 

"It's true," Lexa told her as the microwave went off behind Clarke, who turned around to take the hot plate of lasagna and replace with with the other before setting another timer. She grabbed one of the forks Aden took out and placed it on the plate before setting the plate and a water bottle in front of Lexa.

 

"I swear, lawyers are weird."

 

"I take great offense to that."

 

"That was kind of the point," Clarke said, smiling at her until the two of them started laughing. Clarke's phone chimed and she took it out of her back pocket, reading the text Harper sent her. "That's my first update about your sister. Her vitals are good and she seems to be doing well in recovery."

 

Lexa smiled slightly before remembering that she hadn't told her about their parents, causing her to immediately turn the smile into a frown and sigh. 

 

"What's wrong?" Clarke asked.

 

The microwave beeped yet again, and Lexa waited for Clarke to get her dinner and take a seat next to her before talking. "I'm sorry about earlier. When we were in the hallway, I mean. You were right. I should have told her about mom and dad and not lied to her face."

 

"I forgive you," Clarke told her. 

 

"I just—" Lexa sighed and placed her face in her hands. "I don't know how or when to tell her that they're dead."

 

Clarke watched Lexa and pursed her lips, sitting in silence for a while before speaking up. "A few years ago, my best friend, my dad and Aden's father were in a car accident. I asked Aden's dad, Finn, to pick my dad up from his job as an engineer and bring him to the hospital because my dad had pulled a muscle and I wanted to make sure that it wasn't anything serious. My best friend, who's another doctor at the hospital with Finn and I, needed a ride, too, because her car broke down."

 

Lexa lifted her face from her hands and turned to look at Clarke. 

 

"They were driving on the road, and a truck driver on the road next to them fell asleep at the wheel and sandwiched them in between the truck and an office building. They were all rushed to the hospital. Finn had a piece of the car door coming out of his stomach, my dad had trauma to the head and my best friend had a piece of metal lodged in her spine," Clarke continued, pushing around the hot lasagna on her plate. "I couldn't help Finn because it wasn't my specialty, and I couldn't operate on my dad because he was family, so I had to operate on my best friend. I was thinking throughout all twelve hours in the OR that they would all be okay, that they would all survive this and recover, that we would all be okay and laugh about it twenty years from now."

 

"What happened?" Lexa asked quietly, watching Clarke visibly swallow before continuing. 

 

"Finn bled out on the operating table, my best friend lost proper function in one of her legs, and my dad was in recovery for about a week before he was pronounced brain dead," Clarke told her. "Before I knew it, six weeks passed with him being kept alive by a bunch of machines, and I had to take a night off from work to go see Aden's play as the leading role for the first time. When I went into work next day, I did a few surgeries, each no longer than an hour, and I was in the middle of eating my lunch when my resident told me that my mother shut off all the machines that kept my father alive. He died within forty-three minutes."

 

Lexa knew better than to say that she was sorry, so she put her hand over Clarke's in a comforting manner. 

 

Clarke took a deep breathe and looked Lexa straight in the eyes. "My point is that you should tell your sister. My mom didn't tell me that she was going to pull the plug and three years later, my relationship with her is still strained. You shouldn't let someone else tell your sister before you do. The sooner you tell her, the better. Don't make her hate you when you need to take care of her. You're family, and that means that you can't sever your ties, but it's going to hurt a shit ton when you do something that could impact your family in a negative way. Don't make it hurt her, Lexa."

 

"Thank you," Lexa told Clarke sincerely.

 

"You're welcome," Clarke said. "Now, you should finish up your dinner so that I can show you the guest bedroom upstairs."

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind reminder that this chapter and all of the others are not beta-ed.

"So, I brought you a shirt and pajama pants to change into, and I'll bring you some clothes for tomorrow morning," Clarke said as she entered the room with the pajamas in hand. "Do you have a friend or someone who can go to your house tomorrow and pack you a bag?"

 

"Yeah, a friend of mine is going to swing by tomorrow at the hospital," Lexa told her, taking the pajamas from Clarke. 

 

"Right, I also wanted to tell you that I have to leave early for work, and I need to leave the house by a quarter to six," Clarke told her. "Bathroom is across from the hall with towels and a toothbrush, and if you're hungry or whatever, just grab what you need from the fridge. Make yourself at home."

 

"Thank you," Lexa said.

 

**

 

Octavia grabbed Raven and Bellamy and pulled them to the other side of the walkway to stare out pf the large windows that made up the hospital entrance to look directly into the parking lot. "Do you see what I see?"

 

"I see a bunch of cars and the sun barely up," Bellamy told his sister, trying to blink the drowsiness out of his eyes. "Can you let me go now? I want to change and go home."

 

"Shh, look!" Octavia said, pointing towards the parking space where Clarke had just parked her motorcycle in.

 

Raven squinted at the figure sitting behind her best friend. "Who the _hell_  is _that_?"

 

"I don't know and I don't care. Let me go so I can get some sleep," Bellamy said, trying to pull away from his sister's grip, but to no avail. He rolled his eyes and decided to humor them by looking out the window, too, and his eyes shot up when he saw Clarke and the mystery girl walking up to the entrance together. "Whoa, she's hot."

 

Raven and Octavia turned to give him and a look, and when he noticed them, he simply shrugged.

 

"What? It's an observation."

 

The two girls merely rolled their eyes and returned to their stalker-like ways, until Octavia gripped Raven and Bellamy's arms harder. "Oh shit! That's the kid's sister!"

 

"What kid? We're in a freaking hospital," Bellamy told her, sighing when Octavia started absentmindedly hitting his shoulder out of excitement.

 

"The kid from the crash," Octavia recounted in excitement. "Damn, Clarke."

 

"And she's wearing Griff's clothes, too, by the looks of it," Raven said, looking down into the lobby as Clarke and Lexa entered the building. "I bought her that top last month."

 

Octavia's eyes widened as she turned to Raven. "Do you think she slept with her?"

 

"Looks like it," Raven said, watching the two women walk under them, and Octavia pulled her two companions to the other side of the walkway to continue to watch them. "Unless, you know, that girl's house caught on fire, too, which would be really shitty if you think about it."

 

"Twenty bucks says she slept with her," Octavia bet. "You know, Stockholm syndrome and all that."

 

"Okay, first of all, that only applies to kidnappers," Bellamy started. "Second of all, thirty bucks says she didn't."

 

"Forty said Aden met her before they banged," Raven added, and the three of them finally turned to each other when Lexa dropped her keys and turned around. "Let's shake on it."

 

After shaking their hands, Bellamy backed away and pointed at his sister and Raven. "You two are so going down. I expect my money in the form of drinks Saturday."

 

"You're on, Blake."

 

**

 

"Okay, so I should probably warn you right now that my friends are staring at us from the walkway above the entrance," Clarke told Lexa as the two of them walked through the entrance to the building. "Don't look."

 

"Why would they stare?"

 

"Well, by everyone's standards, you're hot, so that's the first reason," Clarke told her, watching Lexa smile at the compliment. "Reason number two is that you're wearing my clothes, which my friend Raven must have definitely noticed by now, considering she bought me the top you're wearing last month."

 

"So, what you're saying is that they think we slept together," Lexa concluded as they walked under the walkway, and she could have sworn she heard the sound of quick footsteps above her. 

 

"Yeah, basically," Clarke said. "They're probably making bets and shaking on it, too."

 

"Well, I'm going to drop my keys and test that theory," Lexa said as she took out her keys from her pockets and dropped them on the floor, turning around to pick them up and look at the trio on the walkway, who were shaking hands before the male amongst them backed away and pointed to his two companions. When Lexa turned around, she saw that Clarke hadn't bothered waiting up, so she jogged over until she caught up with her. "Damn, do you have psychic abilities or something?"

 

"No, I just know my friends really well," Clarke answered as they stepped into an empty elevator and closed the doors behind them. "Hey, um, would you mind keeping what I told you last night to yourself?"

 

Lexa furrowed her brows in concern. "Of course. Do you regret telling me about it? I won't say anything to anyone."

 

"No, I don't regret it," Clarke sighed, staring at Lexa. "I jus—there's some things that you know that my friends and family don't, that Aden's dad, Finn, didn't even know about, that Aden himself doesn't know."

 

"Okay. Would you mind telling me what so that I don't accidentally say anything?" Lexa asked. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine, too."

 

Clarke inhaled before she told Lexa. "You and I are the only ones who know who Aden's dad is. I never told anyone, not Aden, not Finn, not even my parents. When Aden finally asked me about it last year, I told him that his dad was dead, which was true, because at that point, he had been dead for two years. Aden doesn't know that my mom pulled the plug on my dad. He thinks that his grandpa died because there was too much damage to his head. The week that the accident happened and before my dad was pronounced brain dead, he was at a friend's house practicing for the play, so he never saw my dad after the surgery. Even though my relationship with my mom is strained, it doesn't mean that Aden's relationship with his grandma has to be, too."

 

The elevator dinged at the end of Clarke's confession, and the two of them walked out in silence, Lexa with her hands stuffed in the pockets of her, technically Clarke's, jeans. "I won't say anything," Lexa promised. 

 

"Thank you," Clarke said, breathing a sigh of relief.

 

"Hey, guys!" Octavia greeted rather over exaggeratedly as she walked towards them. 

 

 "Oh no," Clarke muttered. "Prepare yourself."

 

"Good morning, Doctor Blake," Lexa greeted, keeping Clarke's advice in mind.

 

"A good morning for you, isn't it?" Octavia said, shooting Clarke a suggestive look, which the blonde promptly ignored, before turning her attention back to Lexa. "Cute top, Lexa."

 

"Thank you." Octavia's meaning was not lost on Lexa, and she found the situation to be a little funny.

 

"Right, while you two ladies chit chat about fashion, some of have actual jobs to do," Clarke told them, but before she could bypass Octavia, the younger Blake pulled her back to stay rooted by Lexa's side.

 

"I think you can spare a minute or two," Octavia said. "Hey, Clarke, don't you have a top like that? The one Raven bought for you last month?"

 

"Yes, I do. Your observation skills are quite keen since I'm certain you've never seen that top, considering you were at work the day she bought it," Clarke said rather sarcastically.

 

"She sent me a picture," Octavia told her rather dismissively. "So, did you take a taxi home yesterday, Lexa? I know that Lincoln was in surgery before you left the hospital, so he _definitely_ couldn't have given you a ride home."

 

"Really?" Clarke asked, raising a brow at her friend. "You're doing this now, in the middle of the hallway at six in morning?"

 

"It's an innocent question," Octavia told her, batting her eyes at Clarke.

 

"Curiosity killed the cat."

 

"Yeah, well, satisfaction brought it back," Octavia shot back without hesitation.

 

"Doctor Griffin, do you think that I could see Anna now?" Lexa asked, giving the blonde and herself an exit from the conversation and the awkward treatment that would surely follow. 

 

"Sure, follow me," Clarke told her, passing an annoyed Octavia. "You should probably do your rounds, Doctor Blake."

 

Octavia growled in frustration and annoyance as she watched Lexa and Clarke continue on down the hallway. Raven walked up to Octavia with two cups of coffee in her hands, handing one to Octavia as they watched Clarke and Lexa round the corner at the end of the hallway. "Any luck?"

 

"She's keeping it under lock and key," Octavia told her, taking a sip of the coffee and scrunching her nose at the taste. "Ew, did you make this?"

 

"I swear, I fixed the coffee machine yesterday. I don't know why it keeps spitting out terrible coffee," Raven sighed.

 

"Maybe because you can't make coffee, or anything edible, as a matter of fact," Octavia suggested, throwing her cup of coffee in the waste bin next to her. "Griff isn't spilling anything, and Lexa basically saved her ass from my interrogation, so I don't think we're getting anything out of them."

 

"Don't worry," Raven reassured her. "She called me for a consult later on the Woods kid, so I'll get it out of her then. Nothing like public humiliation, am I right?"

 

Raven held up her fist and smirked when Octavia fist bumped her.

 

"Damn, I love our friendship," Octavia told her. 

 

"And Clarke hates it, so that makes it even better," Raven agreed, taking a sip of her coffee before gagging. "Okay, yeah, you're right. This thing tastes like shit."

 

"Told you," Octavia shrugged. "Anyway, I have rounds, so tell me how the interrogation goes later."

 

Raven frowned at her coffee cup and absentmindedly waved Octavia off. She really didn't want to waste the coffee, because well, it was coffee. She looked up for any unsuspecting victims and lit up when she found the perfect one. Raven approached the nurse's station, where Kyle Wick was leaned over reading a patient's file. "Wick!"

 

Wick looked up from the file and furrowed his brow in confusion. "Reyes. Can I help you?"

 

"You have the file that I'm looking for," Raven told him, shooting him a bright smile as she shut the folder and took it from his hands.

 

"Uh, actually, I nee—"

 

"No, you don't," Raven told him, shoving the coffee cup in his hands. "Here's a reward for your teamwork. See ya!"

 

Wick merely blinked in confusion as Raven turned around and disappeared down the hallway, leaving him with a lukewarm cup of terrible tasting coffee in his hands. "What the hell just happened?"

 

Raven turned the corner and shoved the folder into the hands of a first-year resident, telling him to put it away for her. She pulled out her phone at the sound of a page and furrowed her brows when she saw that she was needed for a consult in the ER. Her gaze was glued down to the phone to the point where she didn't notice that she was about to run into someone until it happened. 

 

"Watch where you're going," the woman huffed, glaring at Raven.

 

"I am so sorry."

 

"Damn right you are," the woman told her, and Raven couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. "I'm looking for Anastasia Woods' room. Do you know where that is?"

 

"Are you family?" Raven asked, because she knew that the girl likely wouldn't be able to have visitors for at least a few days, other than immediate family, which, as far as she knew, was only Lexa, so there was no way she could lie to her.

 

"No, I'm Anya, a close family friend. I need to speak to her sister, er, guardian, I guess," Anya said, realizing the truth of the statement. 

 

"I can't guarantee she'll be in the room, but I can have someone take you there," Raven told her, just as Lincoln rounded the corner with his resident. "Forrest!"

 

Lincoln looked up from the file the resident was showing to him and his eyes lit up in recognition when he saw Anya. He briefly turned to the resident and gave him some instructions before continuing on his way until he reached Anya and Raven. "Reyes, Anya."

 

"She needs to get to your cousin, and I have to get to the ER, so I'll leave you to it," Raven told him before turning around to head to the elevator. 

 

"What's up?" Lincoln asked Anya after Raven left.

 

"I need to find Lexa. She needs to give me her keys so I can pack a bag for her and drop it off here," Anya said as they began walking together. 

 

"Last time I saw her, she was with Clarke about two minutes ago, so she'll probably be by the attending's lounge before they can head over to Anna." 

 

"Who's Clarke?"

 

"She's the one who operated on Anna," he explained.

 

"Lincoln!"

 

The two of them turned around to he the source from where his name came from, and Octavia was approaching them quickly.

 

"Hey. What's up?" He asked her. "Don't you have rounds?"

 

"Mr. Walker likes to sleep in anyway, so I think he'll appreciate a few extra minutes," Octavia said, waving him off. "Did you know that Lexa went home with Clarke yesterday?" 

 

"No, she never mentioned anything like that," he told her, shooting Anya a look of confusion before turning back to Octavia. "By the way, this is Lexa's friend, Anya Stone. Anya, this is my girlfriend, Octavia Blake."

 

"So, I've been downgraded to Lexa's friend now?" Anya asked, raising a brow at Lincoln. "I sure as hell wasn't Lexa's friend when I helped you win all those beer pong tournaments in college."

 

Lincoln shook his head in amusement and sighed. "O, this is Anya. We were roommates in college."

 

"Roommates," Octavia repeated, clearly surprised, looking between Lincoln and Anya. Anya was hot, there was no denying that, and Lincoln was the definition of sculpted perfection by the Greek standards, so Octavia couldn't help but wonder if they were beyond roommates at any point in time. "Cool, cool."

 

"Okay, girlie, let me stop your train of thought before you get any disgusting ideas," Anya said, clearly understanding Octavia's body language and facial expressions. "Do you see this, right here?" Anya asked, pointed between her and Lincoln. "Never has happened, never will happen. Lincoln is too nice. He cooks dinner, and I don't go out with people that cook dinner because I have the pants on in my relationships. I cook the shit I want to eat and nobody tells me what to eat, so if he's the cook, that's a big no-no. Capische?"

 

Octavia opened and closed her jaw several times, unsure of how to respond to her. 

 

"Okay, we're leaving because you clearly need to regroup your thoughts and that might be important, considering you're a surgeon. Don't kill anyone," Anya advised her before she grabbed Lincoln's arm and walked away, leaving a stunned Octavia in the hallway.

 

"Ugh, you picked a jealous one," Anya said, rolling her eyes as she let go of his arm and the two of them walked down the hall. "She's not crazy, right?"

 

"She's sane when compared to you," Lincoln answered. 

 

"Yeah, no one can compare to me. I'm like a shooting star," she told him. 

 

"So, does that mean you're dead?"

 

"Hardy har har. You're _so_ funny," Anya deadpanned. "So, you like her?"

 

"Yeah, she's great," Lincoln told her with a smile. "I love her."

 

"Oh great," Anya said with a roll of her eyes.

 

"What?"

 

"You've got that stupid lovesick smile on your face my parents have. Damn, that means you're going to put a ring on that one."

 

"Shh," he told her, looking around to make sure no one heard her. "We've only been dating four months. Don't start any rumors."

 

Anya stopped in her tracks and gaped at Lincoln. "Oh my _God_."

 

"What's wrong?"

 

"You bought one already, didn't you?" She said, and punched Lincoln when he didn't deny her accusation.

 

"Ow, keep it down!" He told her.

 

"Lincoln!"

 

"I saw it and acted on impulse. I'm not going to ask her now," he told her. "We don't even live together yet. She's in a house with her best friends."

 

"Okay, this love and marriage shit is way too disgusting for me," she informed him. "Do you have a picture of the ring?"

 

"What ring?"

 

Lincoln turned around and he so badly wished that he could be anywhere else but here. "Hey, Clarke," Lincoln said nervously. "Ring? What ring? I don't see a ring."

 

"You're propo—" Clarke was immediately cut off by Lincoln's hand, and she raised a brow at his actions.

 

"Stop saying that I'm proposing. I'm not proposing," he told her, moving his hand away from her mouth. "You're going to start rumors, and everybody knows hospital rumors are the worst."

 

"Wait, you're Clarke?" Anya asked the blonde. 

 

"Wow, thanks for acknowledging my presence, Anya," Lexa sarcastically remarked. "Not like I invited you here or anything."

 

"Do I know you?" Clarke asked Anya, who was flipping Lexa off. "You're in a hospital, so don't flip anyone off. All these doctors here may know how to repair bones, but they also know the best ways to break them."

 

"Damn, you're feisty," Anya said, and Clarke gave her a look of disinterest at her statement. 

 

"Okay, you might be Lexa's lawyer friend, but you're definitely not my type," Clarke told her, making Lexa snort at her statement. Clarke then turned to Lincoln and continued her conversation. "So, you're not proposing."

 

"No, I'm not," Lincoln stressed.

 

"But you bought a ring," Clarke countered. 

 

Lincoln sighed. "Yes, I bought a ring."

 

"Whoa, you bought a ring?" Raven asked, leading her group of residents to join the group. "You going to propose to O?"

Lincoln gave her a pointed look and gestured to the nosy residents before Raven got the message. She turned to her residents and barked out orders before they all scrambled in different directions, leaving a satisfied Raven to turn back to an annoyed Lincoln. "So, when are you proposing?"

 

"I'm not proposing," he told her, clearly frustrated by this point. "Aren't you supposed to be in the ER for a consult?"

 

"Wrong page," Raven said dismissively. "Then what was the point of buying a ring?" 

 

"When did you buy a ring, anyway?" Lexa asked him, crossing her arms. "You never mentioned you were planning on proposing."

 

"I bought it two weeks ago and I'm not proposing."

 

"Then why buy the ring in the first place if it was only going to collect dust?" Raven asked. 

 

"For the love of God, yes, I bought a ring but I'm not proposing!" Lincoln yelled. 

 

"You bought my sister a ring?" 

 

The five of them turned to find a pissed off Bellamy stepping out of the attendings' lounge, and the other four completely shifted gears to find any excuses to leave Lincoln to fend for himself.

 

"Lexa, Anya, follow me to Anna's room," Clarke said, leading a swift exit in the opposite direction of the confrontation.

 

"I have to find my damn residents," Raven mumbled, moving around Clarke, Anya and Lexa in the opposite direction. 

 

Lincoln glared at their swift exit. "Seriously?"

 

Bellamy cleared his throat and crossed his arms as he approached Lincoln with an expectant look on his face. "You were saying?"

 

"Didn't your shift just end?" Lincoln asked. "You're tired, so you should probably go home."

 

"Hm, well, I think I'm going to want to stay for this explanation," Bellamy suggested with a sickly sweet smile on his face.

 

Lincoln hung his head and sighed. "This day cannot get any worse."

 

**

 

"So, just try to be quiet and don't wake her up. If she wakes up, call a nurse and have her page me immediately," Clarke told Lexa. "I've got to go do my rounds, but I'll see you later."

 

After Clarke left the room, Anya dumped her bag on one of the armchairs and sighed, turning to Lexa. "What is with this hospital? There's so many freaking hot doctors here."

 

"You should hit your head against a wall. Maybe that'll get you admitted," Lexa suggested, earning her the stink eye from Anya. "Anyway, I need you to swing by my place and pack a bag for me. Make sure to take a few work suits, too. I've got duffel bags in the back of my walk in closet in my room."

 

Lexa took out her keys and tossed them to Anya, who caught them with ease. "Okay, but do you plan on spending some nights here?"

 

"Yeah, something like that," Lexa told her, focusing an affectionate gaze at her sister. "She doesn't know yet."

 

"Know what?"

 

"I didn't tell her that they died," Lexa said, taking Anna's hand on hers.

 

"Lex," Anya sighed. "You can't do that."

 

"I know, and I'm going to fix it," Lexa promised her. "I thought I was doing the right thing by protecting her, but Clarke knocked some sense into me."

 

"Ah, yes," Anya nodded her head. "This Clarke has so many rumors circulating around her, especially with you. Did you go home with her?"

 

"Oh my God, not you, too," Lexa groaned, looking away from her sister to face her best friend.

 

"Cute top, Lex. Where'd you get it, Clarke's closet?"

 

"As a matter of fact, yes, I did. She gave me a ride home and I dove off her motorcycle a block away from my house, so I stayed at her place."

 

"Wait, she drives a motorcycle?" Anya asked, momentarily distracted. "How badass can this woman get? Doing brain surgery during the day and driving motorcycles and saving damsels in distress in her spare time? Who the hell does that kind of thing? Lancelot doesn't have shit on her."

 

"Anya, stop. Don't think about sleeping with her. She's Anna's doctor," Lexa reminded her.

 

"Relax, would you? She's hot, but not my type. Don't get your panties in a twist, because she's all yours," Anya told her, before shifting gears in their conversation. "You jumped off her motorcycle in the middle of the road?"

 

Lexa sighed. "It's a long story."

 

"Lex," Anya spoke softly. "I'm worried about you."

 

"Don't. I'm fine," Lexa insisted, and Anya was clearly taken back by the sudden wall Lexa put up between them. "Just get some clothes and my wallet and my laptop bag. If you see that you're going to be late to work, just have my assistant drop everything off here around noon. There might be some food you need to throw out, because I made dinner that day."

 

"Okay," Anya reluctantly agreed, deciding to let it go for now. "Do you want me to make the funeral arrangements?"

 

"I don't know," Lexa confessed, suddenly dinging that the tiles on the floor more interesting than anything else in the room. "I'll talk to you about that in a few days. I need to discuss it with Anna first."

 

Anya walked over and pulled Lexa into a side hug. "I'm here if you want to talk about anything, okay?"

 

Lexa absentmindedly nodded, and Anya gave Lexa's shoulder a squeeze before she let go to grab her bag and leave the room. 

 

**

 

Clarke was had walked into Anna's room just before noon to check on the girl's vitals when she noticed Lexa asleep in the chair next to her sister's bed, her hand holding onto Anna's. Clarke smiled softly and stepped out to grab an extra blanket before bringing it back to the room and drape it over Lexa. She watched the rise and fall of Lexa's chest, and she knew that the lawyer was in a large state of shock and grief and was most definitely under a lot of stress. Even when she was asleep, her brows were furrowed and her shoulders seemed to be tense. 

 

When she realized that she had been staring at Lexa, Clarke immediately shooed any thoughts related to Lexa out of her head and turned her attention to checking Anna's vitals. As she was taking notes, Clarke noticed a Anna's eyes slowly open, squinting at the sudden lights.

 

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Clarke said in a low voice, putting the tablet she had with her aside to focus on Anna. "How are you feeling?"

 

"A little weird," Anna said, her voice cracking a bit, likely due to the fact that she hadn't spoken in a little over half a day. "My head kind of hurts."

 

"That's probably because I had to operate," Clarke told her with a hint of amusement as she took out her pen light and began to shine it in Anna's eyes. "Okay, follow my finger, please."

 

"What happened?" Anna asked, following the movement of her doctor's index finger.

 

"What was the last thing you remember?" Clarke asked her.

"You talking while I was in a machine, and then a doctor came in, I think her name was Doctor Bake or Doctor Blake or something."

 

Clarke bit her lip to avoid laughing at Doctor Bake. She was definitely going to use that against her friend sometime in the future. She nodded her head and turned off the pen light to replace it in her pocket. "You had a panic attack and then started seizing. The accident caused a weak spot in your brain to start bleeding, so I had to operate to stop the bleeding."

 

Anna nodded her head slightly, well she tried at least, considering her head was wrapped in bandages and she had a beck brace.

 

"Squeeze my hand, please," Clarke said after holding Anna's hand, satisfied when she felt the pressure. "And I'm sorry about anything you heard me say. You weren't meant to hear that, and it wasn't right of me to talk about it. I didn't think that the mic was still on."

"It's okay," Anna said in a weak voice. "Doctor Griffin?"

 

"Yes?" Clarke asked, having retracted her hand by this point to take notes. 

 

"Is my sister here?" 

 

"She's holding your left hand," Clarke told her. "Do you want me to wake her up?"

 

"No," Anna said.

 

"Alright, well I'm going to need to wake her up in a little bit to talk to her," Clarke informed her.

 

"My parents are dead, aren't they?"

 

Clarke froze and looked at Anna, her eyes half open and looked so tired and defeated. Clarke's silence only confirmed her question. 

 

"Is it crazy to say that I saw them before I woke up?" Anna asked, staring up at the ceiling. 

 

Clarke thought back to the night of Aden's performance, the night her mother pulled the plug on her father. She'd gone to bed that night and had a strange dream, her father smiling at her from the edge of a cliff. She ran and tried to reach him, but she could never seem to shrink the distance between them, and watched in horror as her father waved before stepping back and falling from the edge. "No."

 

"We were at a train station," Anna told her. "I was on one side, and they were on the platform across from me."

 

Clarke listened intently to her, hanging onto every single word.

 

"They were waving and smiling, and I was screaming and crying. Lexa was holding me back, and I watched tell us that they love us," she recounted. "And then the train came, and they got on and left. Lexa and I were stuck on the platform, and I saw them wave out of the window until I couldn't see them anymore. Do you think I'm crazy yet, doc?"

 

Clarke's lips twitched into a small smile. "No. I think we're all human if we want to hold onto the dearest things to our hearts."

 

"Can you promise me something?" Anna asked her.

 

"Well, I can't help you hurt yourself or other people, so as long as it doesn't involve that, I can try."

 

"Can you make sure she leaves the hospital to tonight? I know she knew and didn't tell me, but I don't think I can look at her more than I have to."

 

"She's your big sister, Anna. You can't hate her forever," Clarke told her. Even though Clarke's relationship with her own mother wasn't that great, she loved her even when she hated her.

 

"I don't hate her," Anna promised. "I'm just mad at her."

 

"You're going to hurt her, you know. If you tell her to stay away tonight, she's going to hate herself."

 

"Then can you make sure she doesn't?" Anna asked, knowing this was such a large request. "Please?"

 

Clarke sighed and looked at the sleeping brunette. Lexa couldn't go back home, and there was no way she was letting her go to a hotel if she couldn't sleep in Anna's room tonight, so the only other option was to have her stay over again. "Okay."

 

"Thank you," Anna whispered.

 

"I'm going to need you to stay awake for me, okay?" Clarke said to Anna. "I have to get a few other doctors and wake up your sister now."

 

"Okay," Anna agreed, and made idle chatter with her doctor while Clarke paged Harper and her second year resident, Nathan Miller. She then made a few more notes before waking Lexa up.

 

"Lexa," Clarke said, shaking the brunette lightly. "Lexa, wake up."

 

Lexi made a few undistinguishable noises before stirring awake, blinking several times before registering the fact that Clarke was in front of her. She took her hand away from her sister's and rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. "What time is it?"

 

"Time to greet your sister good morning," Clarke told her, and Lexa practically jumped out of her seat to see Anna, who could open her eyes a little bit more but not fully all the way.

 

"Hey," Lexa whispered, caressing Anna's cheek, and Clarke took this as her cue to wait outside while the siblings had their talk. "How are you feeling?"

 

"A little sleepy, and my head feels funny," Anna told her.

 

"You gave me and Lincoln a scare, you know," Lexa told her.

 

"You know how much I love keeping you guys on your toes," Anna said with a lazy smile on her face.

 

Lexa smiled at her words before that smile dissipated and she realized she needed to tell her about their parents. "An, there's something you should know."

 

"I know," Anna said quietly.

 

"Did someone tell you?"

 

"No, Lex. I figured it out," Anna told her. "Why did you keep it from me?"

 

"I thought I was protecting you," Lexa confessed.

 

"I don't need protection, Lex," Anna told her. "I need someone who's going to be there for means tell me truth even when it hurts."

 

"I'm sorry." Lexa's voice cracked towards the end. She tried to do the right thing and only ended up hurting her already injured sister.

 

"I'm so mad at you," Anna told her. "I can't look at you right now."

 

"I'm so sorry," Alexa said, tears threatening to spill and make her a sobbing mess.

 

"I'm mad, but I still love you, okay?" Anna said, reaching out to hold one of her sister's hands, the one at her cheek. "You're my sister."

 

Lexi nodded her head frantically and placed a kiss on Anna's cheek.

 

"You can stay here, but not tonight. I just want to be alone, okay?"

 

"Okay," Lexa reluctantly agreed, and a knock at the door caused Lexa to let go of Anna and wipe away any stray tears.

 

"Do you need a few more minutes?" Clarke asked when she saw Lexa.

 

"No, it's okay," Lexa told her, putting on a brave smile and trying to pretend that she was okay.

 

"Are you sure?" Clarke asked, a little concerned.

 

"Yeah," Lexa said, and with that, Clarke reluctantly walked in with Harper and Miller.

 

"Anna, Lexa, this is Doctor McIntyre and Doctor Miller," Clarke introduced once they were on the other side of Anna's bed. "Doctor McIntyre assisted me in operating on your brain, Anna, and both of them will be assisting me and learning from your case."

 

After the introductions had been set, Clarke had Harper and Miller explain Anna's current condition and the best way to move forward.

 

"So, a few scans of your brain will tell us how you're healing and a full body scan will help us determine the best way to build up muscle to help with your physical therapy," Clarke concluded. "We'll be able to take you to get your scans done in a few hours, but you can rest up until then."

 

"Are you going to leave the mic on this time, doc?" Anna asked with quiet laughter.

 

"No," Clarke answered in amusement, and the two of them see media to be the only ones in on the joke.

 

"Just making sure," Anna said,and it was that moment that a knock at the door interrupted them, revealing Anya to walk into the room with Lexa's duffel and laptop bag, along with a small gift bag.

 

"Hey, you're awake!" Anya said, and Clarke ushered her residents out the door, leaving the room herself.

 

"Good to see you, too, Anya," Anna said.

 

"I got you chocolate, though I don't know if they'll let you eat solid food yet," Anya informed her, dropping the gift bag in the table next to Anna's bed, then turned to Lexa. "I brought your shit, too."

 

Lexa sent Anya an annoyed look at the obvious difference in treatment and took her bags. "I thought I told you to send Maya to bring my stuff. You're supposed to be eating lunch."

 

"I'm your boss, and I don't respond to well to authority," Anya informed her, and Lexa snorted at the irony of that statement, considering the fact that Anya was a lawyer. "Speaking of lunch, you should go eat with Clarke."

 

"Why?"

 

"You know, to talk about Anna's treatment and all that jazz."

 

"We already did, literally just before you came in."

 

"Well, go eat with her anyway," Anya told her, turning to Anna. "You know, your sister slept over at your surgeon's house yesterday."

 

"Anya!"

 

"She's wearing her clothes, too," Anya added.

 

"I was wondering where that too came from. Lexa doesn't buy cute clothes," Anna said.

 

Lexa glared at the two of them as she set her bags down. "Seriously?"

 

"Oh, come on." Anya rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you weren't checking out her ass when she was walking out."

 

"I wasn't," Lexa denied, feeling her cheeks flush red.

 

"You're such a bad liar. How the fuck are you a good lawyer?"

 

"By not being an ass, that's how," Lexa sassed.

 

"Fine," Anya shrugged, moving towards the door. "If you won't ask her to lunch, then I will."

 

Lexa's eyes widened and she went after her friend, but not before telling her sister that she'd be back. She'd barely managed to yank Anya back from approaching Clarke, who was talking to her residents at the nurse's station.

 

"Stop it," Lexa told her friend.

 

"Either you do it or I will," Anya told her. "I've always wondered what the inside of an on call room looks like."

 

"You're such a pain in my ass," Lexa muttered, letting go of Anya's hand.

 

Anya smirked at Lexa. "I'll be watching you in the cafeteria."

 

"I fucking hate you," she informed her, to which Anya only waved as Lexa approached Clarke at the nurse's station just as her residents left. "Doctor Griffin."

 

Clarke turned around and smiled at Lexa. "Hey. Do you need anything?"

 

"Remember this morning when we were talking about your friends and what they thought when they saw us?"

 

"Yes," Clarke answered, quite unsure of where this was heading. "Did they say anything to you that I don't know about?"

 

"No, but my pain in the ass of a boss and friend came to the same conclusion," Lexa told her, motioning in the direction of where Anya stood staring at them. "So, long story short, I need to sit with you at lunch so that she doesn't borderline sexually harass you."

 

"How do you borderline sexually harass someone?" Clarke asked in confusion. 

 

"We're lawyers. We know how."

 

"Right," Clarke drawled, then checked her watch. "Well, I have a little over an hour before I have to go clip an aneurysm, so we can go now if you want."

 

"Sure. Just give me a few minutes?"

 

"Okay. I need to write a prescription anyway, so just meet me back here."

 

And with that, Lexa turned around to head back to Anna, making sure to voice her opinions to Anya as she passed her. "You're a pain in my ass."

 

Anya smirked. "You're welcome. I'll be watching!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: lunch conversations and interruptions


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta-ed chapter >.

"TV shows always make it seem like hospital lunches taste like crap," Lexa said after trying some of the food. "This chicken is actually really good, though."

 

"Eh," Clarke shrugged, digging into her cup of pudding. "It's okay."

 

"It's better than anything I could ever make," Lexa disagreed. "Any chicken I try to bake in the oven just ends up tasting really dry."

 

"Mm, that's because you need to boil it first," Clarke told her. "If you boil it and then put it on a tray, spread a some sauce on the skin and stick it in the oven for a little bit, it'll come out juicy. That's why turkey tastes so dry on Thanksgiving. If people apply that technique, then their turkey would end up tasting baked and juicy."

 

"Are you talking about having baked sex again, Griffin?" Raven announced her presence by ceremoniously dropping her tray next to Clarke and taking a seat next to her blonde friend, only to frown at the pudding cup in the neurosurgeon's hands. "Where did you get the pudding?"

 

"Lexa, this is Doctor Raven Reyes. Somehow, some medical institution out there decided to give her a Ph.D and now we're stuck with her as the head of our orthopedic surgery," Clarke introduced, sending a sideway glare at Raven. "Unfortunately, you're going to have to deal with her more often considering she's a rehab specialist as well."

 

Raven then turned to look at Lexa's tray, which also had a cup of untouched pudding on it. "You have pudding, too? The lady said they don't serve pudding today!"

 

"Can you believe they have pudding today?" Octavia exclaimed, taking a seated next to Lexa and across from Raven. 

 

"You have _two_ pudding cups?" Raven pointed incredulously at Octavia's tray. "What the hell?"

 

"Keep your voice down," Clarke hissed.

 

"Wendy always gives me two cups," Octavia told her, taking off the plastic wrap. "Don't you get two?"

 

"I didn't even get one!" Raven exclaimed.

 

"Karma's a bitch, sweetheart," Octavia snickered. "She probably still hates you for using her tongs to cauterize that patient."

 

"Okay, that was when the building was on lockdown and I couldn't take him to get proper stitches," Raven reminded her. "What the hell was I supposed to do, let him bleed to death?"

 

"I'm just saying that you could've been a little more courteous than yell at her to heat you some 'damn metal,'" Octavia shrugged. 

 

"It wasn't tea time, and she froze on me, so I'm sorry if I didn't lift my pinkie up and use the right fork," Raven remarked sarcastically. "I want some pudding."

 

"Here," Lexa said, passing her pudding cup to Raven.

 

Raven placed a hand over her heart as she accepted he pudding cup. "I'm so touched. Griff, you picked a good one."

 

"Okay, this is where I take my exit," Clarke said, getting ready to stand up and ditch them, only to be stopped by Raven yanking her close and wrapping an arm around her. 

 

"You don't mean that," Raven said. "You _lurve_ us. Right, Lexa?"

 

Before Lexa could answer, Wells took a seat on the other side of Clarke and let out a big sigh. "I just pulled a pipe out of a man's lungs. Who on earth would get a pipe stuck in their lungs?"

 

"Ooh, sounds interesting. Do continue," Octavia encouraged. 

 

"Guys, we all may be surgical junkies, but Lexa is a lawyer who doesn't deal with blood and gore on a daily basis," Clarke reminded them. "So, shut up about all the blood."

 

"Lexa, doesn't mind, right, Lexa?" Raven asked her.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't think we've met," Wells said, holding out a hand for Lexa to shake. "Wells Jaha. I'm a cardiothoracic surgeon."

 

"Lexa Woods," Lexa introduced.

 

"You're supposed to be eating lunch, not networking," Anya reminded her, taking a seat on Lexa's left. 

 

"Ah, the angsty boss lawyer lady friend," Raven acknowledged, having had information on her from Clarke and Lincoln. 

 

Wells' eyes lit up in recognition at Lexa. "Hey, aren't you—"

 

"Yes," Clarke answered, cutting Wells off.

 

"And Anya is Lincoln's dream team beer pong buddy and college roommate," Octavia added, a little bitterly, some might say.

 

Anya rolled her eyes at Octavia's comment. "I thought we went over this already. Lincoln is all yours. He even bought you a—ow!"

 

Lexa had dug her heel into Anya's foot, clearly a warning for the other girl to shut her mouth.

 

"He bought me a what?" Octavia asked her, watching Anya and Lexa glare at each other as the former rubbed her foot.

 

"Nothing," Anya finally said.

 

"Wait, so it's true?" Wells asked, having heard the rumors around the hospital that morning.

 

"No," Clarke, Raven, Anya and Lexa answered.

 

"What's true?" Octavia asked, growing very suspicious at the weird behavior of the group.

 

"Nothing," the four told her.

 

"You know, what? You guys are being weird," Octavia told them, standing up and taking her tray in her hands. "I'm going to go ask Lincoln myself."

 

"Can I have your pudding?" Raven asked her, to which Octavia scoffed.

 

"Nice try, Reyes," Octavia said before she took off.

 

"Well, Lincoln's screwed," Raven said, picking up her fork to start on her salad. "He just went into surgery for an infant with pyloric stenosis, so she's got him trapped in the OR for a while."

 

Lexa turned to glare at Anya.

 

"What?" Anya asked.

 

"This is your fault."

 

"I know."

 

"Fix it."

 

"Nah, she needs to get over her insecurities," Anya told her. "Plus, I told her that I wasn't interested in her boyfriend, yet she didn't seem to get the message."

 

"Hey, Clarke," Wells said, nudging the blonde.

 

"What?" 

 

"Isn't that your shirt?" He asked, pointing to the one Lexa was wearing, and the blonde groaned as devious smiles occupied Anya and Raven's faces. 

 

"Yeah, Clarke," Raven said, feigning ignorance. "Isn't that your top? I'm almost certain I bought you one like that last month."

 

"Lexa, I'd like to make a swift exit. Would you care to join me?" Clarke asked, and without hesitation, the brunette picked up her tray as the two stood up.

 

"I'd love to," Lexa answered, moving away from the table where Clarke's colleagues and Anya sat. 

 

"Did she at least meet Aden?" Raven called after her. "I have betting money on this!"

 

Clarke glared at Raven over her shoulder, and Wells turned to Raven in confusion. "Who's Aden?"

 

"No one," Raven answered, digging into her pudding. 

 

**

 

"Doctor Forrest," Octavia called out as soon as she stepped into the OR.

 

"Doctor Blake," Lincoln greeted. "To what do I owe the pleasure of having you enter my OR?"

 

"I have a question for you," Octavia said, making sure to maintain a safe distance away from the operating table as she moved closer to her boyfriend.

 

"Okay. Hit me."

 

"Well, I was with Clarke, Raven and Jaha Junior at lunch, and your cousin and Anya were there, too. And someone let something slip about you buying me something."

 

Lincoln froze in his place, but calmly continued his operation on the infant. "Really?"

 

"Yep," Octavia confirmed. "So, what did you get me?"

 

"Oh, uh, well," Lincoln said, looking up at the rest of the surgical team, whose ears seemed to triple in size as they listened in on their conversation. "I got you this necklace that I saw the other day."

 

"Really?" 

 

"Yep," Lincoln said nervously, brining his gaze back to focus on the infant. 

 

"Awesome. You should show it to me when I come over to dinner tonight," Octavia said, moving towards the door, but stopping just before she left. "Oh, one more thing. I almost forgot."

 

"What's that?" Lincoln asked, already trying to think of how he was going to buy a necklace on such short notice. 

 

"We should also probably talk about why Wendy the cafeteria lady wished us a happy engagement," Octavia suggested, and Lincoln's blood ran cold. "Hope you got my ring size correct. See you tonight, babe."

 

"I'm going to kill Anya," Lincoln muttered after Octavia left the OR.

 

"Sir?" Jack Davis, one of the interns, said.

 

"What, Davis?"

 

"If Doctor Blake castrates you, can I have your scrub cap?"

 

Lincoln looked up from where he was worked and motioned to the door with his head. "Out, Davis."

 

"But didn't Doctor Blake technically just accept your propo—"

 

" _Out_."

 

**

 

"Paraplegia," Raven sighed as she studied the scans that were displayed on the monitors in front of her. It was late in the evening towards the end of Clarke's shift, and after Clarke had clipped her aneurysm, she and Raven had finally found time to sit down for a consult to see what they could do about Anna.

 

"If we were dealing with nerves, I could _maybe_ try to do something, but her spine is affected," Clarke said, pointing to the obviously damaged T12 area of the spine. "It looks like she lost control of everything below her waist."

 

"I really hate this," Raven muttered, clicking on the monitor to switch images and try to view it from a different angle, while Clarke moved back to take a seat on the couch, staring at Raven and the monitor from several feet away.

 

"What's got you thinking so hard, Griff?" Raven asked with her back to Clarke, continuing to examine the scans in front of her. "I mean, besides the obvious, of course."

 

"It just reminds me of a few years ago," Clarke confessed, and Raven grew quiet, though Clarke could tell that she was listening because she had stopped playing around with the monitor. "I was in here for hours with the idiot, Robinson, trying to figure out what to do for your rehab."

 

"You know that road, Wheeler Avenue? The one that's almost a direct route to the hospital?" 

 

"Yeah," Clarke answered. She deliberately ignored the block in which the crash took place, making it sort of inconvenient time and distance wise to go out of her way to avoid the place, but she had her reasons. If Lexa had noticed anything that morning on their way to the hospital, she hadn't said a word.

 

"I haven't driven through it since the accident," Raven told her. "I end up going through a bunch of side streets and take twice as long to get here. Every time I see the sign for that road, like at an intersection or something, all I can think about is screaming and so much blood. I can still smell the burning rubber."

 

Clarke stayed quiet and watched Raven turn around and join her on the couch, tilting her head back to close her eyes. "Sometimes, I wonder what would've happened if Ad and I didn't move back here."

 

"Clarke," Raven sighed, reaching out to take the blonde's hand in hers. "Stop it. We're going to be okay."

 

"Finn and my dad would be alive, and you'd still have your leg—"

 

"Clarke, _seriously_. Shut up," Raven said, opening her eyes and lifting her head to look at her friend. "And what would've happened if _you_ never came? You wouldn't have gotten all those funds and trials for alzheimer's and parkinson's and amnesia. Hundreds, maybe even _thousands_ , of people might not be alive because of you. Lincoln and O sure as hell wouldn't have gotten together and Aden wouldn't have grown up without his favorite aunts around."

 

"Yeah, I'm not really too keen on that last one," Clarke said, laughing when Raven let go of her her hand to punch her shoulder. 

 

"I'm serious," Raven told her, the look on her face matching the truth of her statement. "Stop blaming yourself. It's not going to fix anything. Right now, I need you with me so we can talk about Sexy Lexi's sister."

 

"Of all the things that I seriously wish would not come out of your mouth, that tops them all," Clarke told her, feeling a little mortified as she stood up to resume her previous position in front of Anna's scans.

 

"Oh, come on," Raven huffed, standing up to move next to Clarke. "If there wasn't any sex, you seriously can't tell me there wasn't even a little bit of flirting. Her hot boss friend told me she caught her staring at your ass."

 

"Raven!" Clarke's cheeks blazed as she punched her friend, who laughed at Clarke's reaction. "This isn't funny!"

 

"Sorry, chica, but you have to admit, you've got a nice ass," Raven admitted, slapping Clarke's butt playfully, earning a glare from the blonde. "I mean, at least you know she finds you attractive."

 

"I didn't need that information to know she found me attractive," Clarke muttered, and she mentally slapped herself when she realized Raven heard her, but before Raven could interrogate her, Harper knocked on the door to the room, and the two doctors turn around to greet the resident. 

 

"Doctor Griffin?" Harper asked as she entered the room.

 

"Yes, McIntyre?"

 

"The morgue contacted us again," Harper said. "It's been two days. They need someone to confirm the body of Adam and Asia Woods."

 

Clarke bit her lip, knowing she'd have to have Lexa come down to confirm it, since Lincoln has been stuck in surgery all day, and will likely continue through the night. "Okay, thank you. I'll have someone come down there, hopefully before the end of the night."

 

Harper nodded and took her exit, and Clarke sighed as she brought her gaze back to the scans. 

 

"Good luck with that one, bud," Raven told her.

 

"Yeah," Clarke agreed. "So, what's the plan?"

 

"She needs to recover, obviously," Raven pointed out. "I mean, we need to wait two weeks before you take the staples out of her head, and she needs to get that neck brace off before I can even think about doing anything."

 

"The neck brace can come off around the same time I take out her staples, but until then, are we just playing the waiting game?"

 

"Basically, yeah. I need to see where she lost feeling before I can recommend anything," Raven told her. "And she needs to get used to a wheelchair, so I don't think we can do anything for at least two to three weeks, maybe even an entire month."

 

"Great," Clarke muttered, certainly unhappy about Raven's conclusion, though she herself had seen the same results. 

 

Raven's pager went off, and the brunette took one look at it before backtracking towards the door. "That's the ER. We'll talk later, Griff!"

 

When Raven had left, Clarke tried to stay inside the room, looking across all of the scans for a different solution, but eventually realized that she couldn't do anything. So, Clarke left the room and made her way down to Anna's room in recovery, where the younger Woods sibling was asleep on the bed, the elder on her computer. Lexa was wearing glasses, her brows furrowed as she read something on the screen. She didn't know that Lexa wore glasses, and she definitely couldn't imagine her going to court in them, because although Anna claimed that she could scare the other side, Lexa looked like she went back in time to being a college student or a recent grad, not at all intimidating.

 

Snapping out of her trance, Clarke knocked lightly on the door, gathering Lexa's attention as she stepped into the room. "I hope I'm not interrupting," Clarke said as she made her way over to the foot of the bed. 

 

"Not at all," Lexa told her, closing her laptop to give Clarke her full and undivided attention. "I'm just scheduling a time with to have a look at my parents' will tomorrow."

 

"Right," Clarke said. "About your parents... I need you to do something that really can't be avoided."

 

"Is something wrong?" Lexa asked in concern.

 

"The morgue needs you to come down to confirm the bodies," Clarke told her, and she knew that it was better to rip off the bandaid that slowly take it off. "Preferably before the end of the night."

 

"Oh." Lexa glanced at Anna's sleeping form once, then pursed her lips and stood up, nodding in agreement. "Sure."

 

"You should pack first," Clarke told her, moving to one of the cabinets in the room to pull out a plastic bag that they used to put all of a patient's personal belongings in upon their arrival to the hospital. "I was thinking that if you weren't going to stay the night here, you should probably bring some things with you so that you could stay at my place again."

 

Lexa sighed. "Doctor Griffin, you really don't have to do this."

 

"I kind of do," Clarke disagreed, moving over to Lexa with the bag in hand. "Do you have any friends who drive motorcycles nearby?"

 

At Lexa's silence, Clarke found her answer.

 

"Really, Lexa, it wouldn't trouble me at all. My shift just ended, anyway, and that way, we could leave as soon as you're done at the morgue," Clarke told her, placing the bag in Lexa's hands. "You do realize that I'm not taking no for an answer, right?"

 

"Are you sure?" Lexa asked her after a moment of hesitation. 

 

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't have offered," Clarke reassured her, knowing that she'd already won. "I'll meet you back here in fifteen minutes. Bring anything you need with you."

 

With that, Clarke left Anna's room and moved to the attending's lounge, where Octavia and Raven were already changing to go home.

 

"I swear, these fucking interns don't know that they shouldn't page me unless it's a goddamn emergency," Raven huffed, pulling on her t-shirt and running her fingers through her hair. 

 

"So, I take it your trip to the ER went well?" Clarke assumed, beginning to undress after closing the door behind her.

 

"He paged me for a sprained ankle, Clarke," Raven recounted to her. "A sprained _ankle_! I can't fucking wait to go home."

 

"I get three days off while you have to go back tomorrow," Clarke taunted her, pulling out the outfit she'd worn that morning.

 

Raven narrowed her eyes at the blonde and gave her the bird. "Fuck off, Griffin."

 

"Easy," Octavia warned them, braiding the side of her head. "By the way, you two are such assholes."

 

"Not that it's any news, but what did we do this time?" Raven asked, deciding to humor her friend.

 

"I didn't want to corner Lincoln in the OR, but you two bitches wouldn't tell me that he bought a ring! I kept waiting for one of you to spill at lunch, and you kept it to yourselves," Octavia complained. "I can't even talk to him about it, because the lucky bastard had to go into surgery and cancel our plans for tonight."

 

"Huh, what do you know?" Raven said, stepping into her shoes. "He gets to live another day. Cheekbones owes me drinks."

 

"Cheekbones?" Octavia furrowed her brows as she tied the end of her braid, then widened her eyes when she realized who Raven was talking about. "You mean Anya? Are you fucking kidding me?"

 

"What's the big deal?" Raven asked her as she sung her cross body over he shoulder. 

 

"She's Lincoln's ex-roommate!"

 

"So? I don't see how that concerns me or you," Raven said as Clarke managed to put on all of her clothes and order several boxes of pizza from the app on her phone, all while listening in on Octavia and Raven's conversation. "If you're jealous of her, then stop it. Lincoln bought you a fucking engagement ring for a reason, hoe. He wants a cute little family with your offsprings running around with scalpels like they're freaking swords or something."

 

"Raven's right," Clarke spoke up, just as she finalized her order and locked her phone. "Your envy isn't going to get you anywhere, and it might just make you even more paranoid and drive Lincoln away. So what if he had a hot roommate in college? It didn't go anywhere then and it's not going anywhere now, so shut up and start acting like bridezilla instead of a jealous idiot."

 

"You guys suck," Octavia huffed. "You're supposed to be hating this bitch with me, not knocking some sense into me."

 

"Boo hoo, sorry that we're too smart to act like a bunch of idiots," Raven mocked. "Are you done now? I want to go home and bitch about my sad and lonely life with food and booze."

 

"I ordered pizza, so it should be there by the time you guys get home," Clarke told them, pulling out her purse and jacket and grabbing her scrubs.

 

"Don't you mean by the time we get home?" Raven asked in confusion, pointing between the three of them.

 

"I'll catch up in a little bit. I have to take Lexa to the morgue before I take her home."

 

"You're screwing her tonight, too?" Octavia whistled. "Damn, it's like shrewd Clarke never existed."

 

Clarke gave Octavia a look. "Seriously, not funny. She's going down there to confirm the bodies."

 

Octavia suddenly occupied a regretful look. "Shit, sorry. But that doesn't explain why she's staying over again."

 

"It's a long story," Clarke told her, not feeling right to expose Lexa's privacy. "Anyway, I'll see you guys at home, and _please_ try not to be a bunch of assholes when we get there."

 

"I'm going to be a little drunk, so I can't promise anything," Raven told her. "But sure, I'll try."

 

Clarke smiled at them both before she exited the lounge to drop off her dirty scrubs before heading over to Anna's room, where Lexa had just barely closed the bag before Clarke walked in. "You ready?"

 

"Yeah, but I need to take my laptop, too, and I don't know how that's going to be safe on your motorcycle," Lexa told her. 

 

"I'll have one of my friends take it home. Their shift just ended, anyway," Clarke told her, taking the laptop bag and the plastic bag from Lexa. "Just give me a minute. They're probably at the nurse's station."

 

 Lexa gave her sister a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room with Clarke, watching as the blonde walked up to her friends at the nurse's station and spoke for a bit before handing over Lexa's laptop bag and clothes. When she came back, Clarke jerked her head for Lexa to follow, and they walked for several minutes in silence to the morgue. 

 

"Doctor Fisher," Clarke greeted the man in front of the room that stored the bodies. 

 

"Griffin Junior," the kind doctor greeted in response. "How can I help you?"

 

"I brought someone to confirm the bodies of Adam and Asia Woods," Clarke told him, motioning to Lexa, who stood staring at the door leading to her parents' bodies. "That's their daughter, Lexa."

 

"Ah," Doctor Fisher said, understanding that this would be a rather tough moment. "Just give me one moment."

 

While he gathered the paperwork, Clarke glanced at Lexa, who didn't seem to even blink as she stood frozen in her spot. Clarke wasn't even sure the brunette heard their conversation. Doctor Fisher came back with a few documents in tow, and Clarke made her way over to Lexa to gather her attention. "Hey, Lexa. We need to see some ID and have you sign some stuff."

 

The brunette took one last look at the door before reluctantly making her way over to the counter, pulling out her wallet and showing Doctor Fisher her driver's license. 

 

"Okay, thank you, Lexa," Doctor Fisher said, handing her ID back to her after scribbling a few things down. "My name is Doctor Fisher, and I am so sorry for your lo—"

 

"Can we get on with this, please?" Lexa asked, no emotion detected on her face. Years in the courtroom have allowed her to perfect a steely persona, and she couldn't have been more grateful in that moment to have that ability. 

 

Doctor Fisher glanced at Clarke before looking back at Lexa. "Of course. I have some pictures here that you can look at. Take as much time as you need to, but I will warn you that some—"

 

"No," Lexa said, cutting him off. "No pictures. I want to see their bodies." She practically choked on the last word as she turned to stare at the door once again.

 

Doctor Fisher hesitated, and looked to Clarke again, this time for guidance, considering she was technically his boss since she owned part of the hospital. With the nod of approval from her, he took out his keys and unlocked the door, stepping aside to allow Clarke and Lexa into the cold room. He moved to the back of the room, where he pulled out two drawers, only upon close inspection did Lexa realize these drawers extended and contained her parents' bodies, naked covered by a white sheet except for their heads. 

 

"If you could give us a few minutes, Doctor Fisher," Clarke requested, and he nodded in submission before exiting the room. Lexa slowly walked towards the area in between their two bodies, quiet as she stared at their stiff bodies, cold and pale in contrast to their dark auburn hair. Her childhood suddenly flashed before her eyes, trips to museums and amusement parks and her parents happily announcing that she was going to be a big sister. She saw the scar on her father's eyebrow from the time she accidentally hit him with a metal bat while trying to learn how to play softball. Her mother's birthmark behind her ear that Lexa had inherited from her and the lips that she inherited that her father insisted would make anyone wanting to court go insane. Lexa didn't even notice that tears were coming out of her eyes until her knees gave in and she was full on sobbing on the ground. A warm body immediately engulfed her, brushing away Lexa's hair and wiping the tears away from her eyes as Lexa clutched on tightly.

 

"Shh, you're going to be okay," Clarke promised her, running a soothing hand up and down the brunette's back as she continued to sob into Clarke's chest. Clarke could feel the violent vibrations of Lexa's body, and held her tight the way she wish someone would've held her when she went through her own nightmare. "You're going to be okay."

 

Nearly half an hour later, Clarke walked into her home with Lexa trailing behind her, hearing the laughter of her best friends and her son on the couch in the living room. When they saw the two of them, their smiles immediately faded and Octavia turned the volume down on the movie playing on TV. Aden, Octavia and Raven saw Lexa's bloodshot eyes and her red nose, but none of them chose to comment on it. 

 

"You," Raven said, pointing to Lexa, and the unsteadiness of her finger showed that she wasn't quite sober. "You need a drink."

 

Lexa eyed the half-empty boxes of pizza and the opened bottle of wine on the coffee table, and despite how shitty she was feeling, she grabbed the bottle of alcohol and chugged. When she finally pulled the bottle away from her mouth, Clarke noticed that she'd finished about a fourth of the wine bottle. Clarke had opened her mouth to say something when an unexpectedly loud burp came out of Lexa's mouth. 

 

There was a pregnant pause, and all of them stared at Lexa in shock. Then Raven snorted and Octavia burst into drunken giggles, and even Clarke and Aden let out a few chuckles until all five of them ended up laughing like it was the funniest thing they've ever seen.

 

"How does such a big sound come from such a tiny person?" Aden asked, laughing in between every other word. 

 

"You're over six feet tall. Everyone's tiny to you," Lexa grunted, taking a box of pizza and shoving herself and Clarke back into the love seat, effectively spilling some wine on Clarke's leather jacket and on the cushion. "Shit! I am so sorry!"

 

"Don't worry about it," Clarke said, reaching over to take a slice of pineapple pizza from the box on Lexa's lap. "Leather washes off, and I hate this couch anyway. It used to belong to my redneck grandma in Minnesota."

 

"I love great-granny Sherri!" Aden exclaimed, and Clarke could tell that her son must've had a little bit of the wine. 

 

"Because she used to sneak you caramel apples when I was at school, when I clearly told her that you weren't supposed to have any sugar," Clarke said, pointing an accusing finger at her son as she took a bite of her slice of pizza.

 

"I love granny Sherri," Raven said, moaning at the thought of her homemade pies. "I would do anything to have one of her apples pies again."

 

"Take a flight to Minneapolis and you might get one," Clarke suggested, stopping mid-chew when she saw Lexa grimacing at the pizza in front of her. "What's wrong?"

 

"Why do you people put pineapple of all toppings on your pizza?" Lexa asked, thinking of all the wrong reasons why sweet and cheesy should never mix.

 

"Don't knock it 'til you try it," Clarke told her, and before Lexa knew what was happening, Clarke took a slice of pizza and shoved it in Lexa's mouth. "You like it?"

 

Lexa bit on and moved the rest of the slice out of her mouth, taking her time to chew and eventually nodding in the end as she swallowed. "Not bad."

 

"I'm glad the jury has reached a consensus," Octavia commented dryly. "Can we watch 10 Things I Hate About You and drool over Heath Ledger now?"

 

Lexa snorted. "Why would you drool over Heath Ledger when you have Julia Stiles?"

 

"That's exactly what I said!" Clarke exclaimed, high-fiving Lexa. 

 

Lexa grinned like a fool as a full on war erupted in the living on who was hotter, and Octavia even brought a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt into the argument. Even with the shitty day she's had, Lexa felt content in this moment, drinking red wine and eating pineapple pizza, sitting next to Clarke, who in that moment, Lexa knew would be a vital person in her life. 

 

"Ugh, Clarke, I hate it when you and Aden team up against me! And dammit, now you have Lexa, too," Octavia grumbled, watching her blonde friend stick her tongue out at her and win the argument.

 

Yep, Lexa thought as she drank more of the wine. Clarke was _definitely_ going to important to her. She could just feel it. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a few days, but I caught the flu and had to work all day Tuesday. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

"I've never seen a cuter sight," Raven gushed, taking out her phone to take a picture of the two figures fast asleep on the couch. 

 

Clarke scowled and shoved her best friend. "Stop it. That's an invasion of privacy."

 

"Don't worry, Griff. I'll be sure to send it to you so that you can set it as your wallpaper," Raven promised, sending a wink Clarke's way. 

 

"She could sue your ass for this," Clarke reminded her. 

 

"Too bad she's never gonna find out," Raven shrugged, glancing at the time on her phone. "Ugh, I have to go get ready. I need to prepare myself to admit defeat to Bellamy."

 

"That's what you get for being an ass and not believing me," Clarke said, giving her an evil grin.

 

Raven rolled her eyes and huffed as she walked away from Clarke. "Shut up. I need some damn aspirin."

 

Clarke smiled in satisfaction and turned her attention to Aden and Lexa on the couch, who'd somehow ended up leaning on each other during their sleep. All five of them had gone through _10 Things I Hate About You_ and _Save The Last Dance_ last night before binge watching half of _Stranger Things_ and falling asleep halfway through episode four.

 

And now, Clarke was doomed with the task of waking Aden up for school without accidentally waking Lexa up in the process. In the end, she went to hell with it and squirted water in her son's face.

 

"Mom, what the hell?" Aden sputtered, accidentally shoving Lexa off the couch while attempting to stop the stream of water from hitting him in the face.

 

"You know this happens every time you decide to drink with your aunts and fall asleep on the couch. Come on, up you go. Time for school," she told him, handing her brooding son a towel to wipe his face with. 

 

"Can't you be like normal moms and wake me up gently with good morning pancakes?" Aden grumbled.

 

"Having a normal mom would also mean cutting wine and movie nights and confiscating the vodka you think you hid well under that creaky floorboard," Clarke told him.

 

"I retract my previous statement," Aden decided, getting up to give his mother a kiss on the cheek.

 

"Go get ready for school. Breakfast is in half an hour," she told him just before he left to go up the stairs. 

 

Clarke then turned her attention to Lexa, who was lying on the ground with her hands cushioning her head, a drunken smile on her face.

 

Clarke raised a brow at her. "Enjoying the view?"

 

"Very much," Lexa answered, winking at her. "And I've got just enough alcohol left in my system to say that you have a very fine ass, Doctor Griffin."

 

"For a lawyer, you're such a big pervert," Clarke told her, blushing as she helped Lexa up. "You know, you're not very subtle when checking me out."

 

"Maybe it's because I wanted to get caught," Lexa told her, watching Clarke bite her lip, but before anything could be said or done, Raven and Octavia's heavy footsteps pounded down the stares, and Clarke quickly let go of Lexa and put a certain distance between them. 

 

"Wait, wait, wait. I still can't believe what I'm hearing," Raven said as she and Octavia walked into the living room. "Griff, Lexa, listen to this weirdo for a sec."

 

With a nudge from Raven, Octavia recounted in detail her and Lincoln's conversation in the OR yesterday. 

 

"So, what you're is saying is that you accepted his proposal," Clarke concluded. 

 

"I didn't accept his proposal," Octavia frowned. 

 

"Yeah, you kind of did," Lexa said. "By saying that you hope he got your ring size correct, you basically said that you accepted and you want the ring."

 

"Well, I didn't mean it like that!"

 

"Then what did you mean?" Clarke asked, crossing her arms.

 

"I don't know," Octavia groaned, putting her head in her hands. "Ugh, my head hurts too much to think."

 

"What are you scared of?" Clarke asked her. "Lincoln's a great guy. You wouldn't shut up about him for literally the two years since he's been here until I gave you a shove to ask him out. I thought you were happy with him."

 

"I am!" Octavia insisted, pulling her head up to look at the other three women. "I'm just kind of freaked now that Raven pointed out the fact that I kind of accepted."

 

"Look, just because you _might_ have accepted doesn't mean that you're going to get hitched next week," Clarke told her. "If you're this freaked, go and talk to him about it. In case you haven't noticed, we're not the ones you've been sleeping with for the past four months."

 

"Ew, mom!" Aden grimaced, choosing to walk in at the worst possible moment in the conversation. "Please don't talk about you sleeping with anyone when I'm at home. Or ever."

 

"Sex is how you were conceived, A, so you might want to get used to the idea," Clarke reminded him. 

 

"Plus, your mom's a catch!" Raven told him, grinning like Lexa and Octavia. "She's got a hot bod—"

 

"Lalalala, I can't hear you!" He shouted, covering his ears in denial. 

 

The four women laughed at the teenaged boy, and Clarke threw a pillow at Raven to get her attention. "You're going to be late for work."

 

"We already are!" Octavia practically shoved Raven out the door. 

 

"I didn't even eat any breakfast!"

 

"There's the hospital vending machine, so move, bitch!" And the slam of the door after them was what finally drew Aden to uncover his ears and gather his stuff by the door. 

 

"Aren't you going to work, too?" Lexa asked Clarke in confusion. 

 

"No, I work four days a week and get three off," Clarke explained to her. "Come on, let's get you sobered up."

 

A little while later, Clarke was placing plates of freshly cooked pancakes in front of Aden and Lexa before she took a seat herself with her own plate of pancakes. "So, you said that you had to go look at your parents' will today?"

 

"Yeah, I have to head into the office and see Anya. She actually has their will," Lexa told her, scooping some fruit on top of her pancakes. 

 

"Okay, so what time do you have to be there?" Clarke asked, flicking Aden's hand when she saw that he was texting instead of eating his breakfast.

 

Lexa felt guilt pool in her stomach. "Doctor Grif—"

 

"You know, you can call me Clarke when I'm not working, right?"

 

"Clarke," Lexa corrected. "You don't have to drive me to the office. I already feel bad enough that I've spent two nights here already."

 

"Are you planning on walking four hours to get to the firm?" At Lexa's silence, Clarke found her answer. "Exactly, so shut up and start eating."

 

"Besides Lexa," Aden spoke as he placed his phone aside in favor of his breakfast. "My mom is a mama bear. You can't really say no to her."

 

"I'm still not letting you go to the store with Raven," Clarke quipped, already seeing through his motives. "I know you want to buy a drone with her, and I'm warning you now, if anything that flies that doesn't come from nature approach this house within thirty feet, I'm taking away your phone."

 

"Man," Aden whined, shoving a pancake into his mouth while brooding.

 

Lexa stifled a laugh and decided to take the conversation to a different route. "So, Aden, you're going to a courthouse in a few weeks?"

 

"Yeah," he answered after swallowing his food. "It's for my government class, and they have the field trip every year. I'm just hoping that someone drops the f-bomb in the middle of a trial like last year."

 

Clarke gave her son an unamused look, but Lexa continued on with the conversation. "Do you know what trial you're going to look at?"

 

"No, I don't think they'll tell us before hand. I'm pretty sure it's whatever we get stuck with that day, though."

 

"You know, Lexa's a lawyer," Clarke pointed out to her son. "She's a hotshot, too. She works at Stone & Lawson."

 

"No way!" Aden exclaimed, obviously in awe. "Really?"

 

"You're mother is over exaggerating. I'm not _that_ great."

 

Clarke scoffed. "Bull _shit_." Lexa's eyes widened in shock at her. "Anya said you haven't lost a case since you started."

 

"When did you have the time to talk to Anya?" Lexa asked her. "I thought you hated her."

 

"I don't _hate_ her. She was kind of being an ass in the hallway, but she's okay. Kind of reminds me of Raven, actually," Clarke muttered the last part before continuing. "I ran into her on her way out of the hospital."

 

Lexa's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And she just _happened_  to mention the fact that I haven't lost a case yet?"

 

"Ha! So, it's true."

 

"Well, technically, yes, but it's not _that_ impressive. The only reason that's true is because I used to be a contract lawyer for the first two years, and then I switched into criminal defense," she told her. 

 

"So, technically, you haven't lost a criminal defense case in two years," Aden concluded, his eyes sparkling with respect.

 

Lexa sighed. "Yes, _technically_. But, before you get any ideas, I only take cases where I think that whoever I'm defending is innocent. It's usually rare that a client is good enough to get away with tricking me, and if they do, I drop the case immediately."

 

"That's so cool! You're like Samuel Leibowitz. You know, except for the Scottsboro Boys case he lost," he said, scarfing down the rest of his breakfast as he asked Lexa questions about her job and listened intently when she answered. 

 

Clarke listened from the kitchen in amusement as she washed the dishes, never having seen her son look up to someone so easily. When the last dish had been placed on the drying rack, Clarke walked back to where Aden and Lexa sat at kitchen island and placed her hands on Aden's shoulders. "Sorry to interrupt, but you need to head to school, A. You need to pick up the girls, too."

 

"Oh, yeah," Aden realized when he glanced at the time on his phone, already slipping out of his seat. "Thanks for the talk, Lexa."

 

"No problem," she smiled. "Your mom knows where to reach me if you want to ask any more questions. Have a good day at school."

 

"Thanks," he said, giving his mom a kiss on the cheek. "See you later, mama."

 

"Bye, baby. Be safe," she called after him. "Love you."

 

"Love you, too," he echoed, grabbing his bag on his way out the door.

 

Clarke turned to Lexa as the front door closed behind Aden, hands on her hips. "So, when do you want to head out?"

 

**

 

"Tris?" Aden asked, glancing at the brunette through his rearview mirror before bringing his eyes back to the road. "You alive back there?"

 

"Yeah," she answered absentmindedly, staring down at her phone. 

 

He exchanged a concerned look with Charlotte, who was seated in the passenger's seat, clearly understanding that the other girl didn't know anything by her shrug. So, he had to turn to other methods. "I found your porn stash last week."

 

"I don't have a porn stash," Tris said, glaring at Aden when she finally tore away her gaze from her phone. "Stop lying."

 

"So, you answer that, but not when I ask you about your well-being?" Aden raised a brow when he caught her gaze in the mirror. 

 

"You're an asshole, you know," Tris told him.

 

"Such kind words to say to the only guy who's ever going to ask about your well-being," he tossed right back, feeling guilty when Tris sported a hurt expression. "Shit, you're right. I am an asshole. I didn't mean that, Tris. I'm sorry."

 

"Whatever," she muttered, pulling a steel mask of indifference as she brought her gaze back to her phone just as Aden pulled into the school parking lot and found a reasonable spot. 

 

Charlotte wasted no time in grabbing her stuff and bolting out of the car, sending a look to Aden that clearly told him to talk to Tris. 

 

"Tris," Aden tried again as he killed the engine, turning his head to look at the girl in the backseat. "I'm really sorry."

 

"It's whatever," Tris huffed, gathering her bag and unbuckling her seat belt. 

 

"Will you please talk to me?" Aden all but begged. "I really want to know what's bothering you."

 

"Try again during lunch," she told him, exiting the car. 

 

Aden gathered his bag, keys and phone before leaving the car in a hurry after Tris, who was heading in the opposite direction of the school building. "Tris! Where are you going?"

 

"Get to class, Aden. I need a smoke," she said over her shoulder, and Aden stopped in his tracks, knowing that it was probably better to leave her while she was still relatively calm on the explosion scale. Otherwise, she might run off and not be willing to give him or anyone else heads up on her whereabouts. 

 

**

 

"She knows you stare at her ass _and_ called you out on it but didn't slap you?" Anya asked in confirmation. 

 

"I already told you, like a thousand times, yes," Lexa stressed. She'd been in Anya's office for half an hour, and she was getting kind of annoyed by her best friend's interrogation.

 

Anya whistled and leaned back in her chair. "Damn, she must like you."

 

"She doesn't," Lexa denied, feeling heat creep up her neck and her cheeks flush. "She's really smooth and pretty, and I'm a big idiot when I'm around her, drunk or sober. I spilled wine on her jacket _and_ her couch."

 

"I thought you had game, Commander."

 

"Okay, one, that nickname needs to stop," Lexa told her. "Two, I do have game. It just disappears when she's in front of me and I kind of just stare at her or feel really bad that she let me stay at her house two days in a row when she's already taking care of Anna."

 

"Okay, you're kind of disgusting me right now with your guilt," Anya told her, scrunching her nose in distaste as she pulled out the will and began looking through it. "So, the last time they renewed this was two months ago, actually, so it's pretty recent. Any assets they had left would be split between the two of you evenly, with a few exceptions. The model airplane collection your dad owned is going to his brother. I still can't believe your dad is a giant nerd, by the way."

 

Lexa snorted in agreement. "I think he spent a couple hundred grand on that collection."

 

"Of course he did," Anya said, with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, your mom's sister is getting some jewelry. There's a list here, but you're going to have to help me with it, because I have no idea what half of these jewels look like," Anya said. "But, most other assets are split between you and your sister. Now, the biggie is that they've designated you as her guardian, so it should be relatively easy when appearing before a judge in court. I pulled in a favor, and I can have you in front of one in an hour if you'd like."

 

"How long is it going to take?" Lexa asked, taking a look at the time on her watch. "i still have to go to the hospital and see Anna. Plus I have to make sure that I can go since Clarke is driving me, and I don't want to dictate her day off."

 

"We can be in and out in less than half an hour," Anna told her,placing the documents aside and bringing her hands together. "There's also something else we need to talk about."

 

"What?"

 

"The company, Lex."

 

Lexa sighed and shook her head. "No. No way. That's Anna's thing. She wants to take over, so she can have it."

 

"And she will," Anya agreed. "When she turns eighteen and graduates in May, that is. Because she's a minor, anything she inherits in the will is going to fall over to you, since you're her guardian now."

 

"Not yet."

 

"In an hour and a half you will be," Anya told her flatly. "That's the one thing they specifically gave to her, and they willed the house in your name, but the company is now your responsibility as of the moment, and since Anna can't take over for a few more months, you'll be acting as president in her place."

 

Lexa groaned as she leaned back in her seat. "I really can't take over right now. I need to take care of Anna, and then I go back to work in a week and a half. I can't juggle all three of those things at once."

 

"Look, I'm not saying that you have to walk in there and start making major decisions. You can put someone else in charge and have them run any major decisions by you until Anna can take over. Besides, you have at least _some_ experience from when you used to work for your parents, right?"

 

"Yeah, I guess," Lexa reluctantly agreed. "Okay, well, is that everything, then?"

 

"Pretty much, but I just need you to sign some things," Anya said, placing a pen and several documents in front of Lexa, indicating where she had to sign. When they were done, Anya took the pen and papers back from Lexa and said, "I have to call the judge and tell him whether you're coming or not."

 

"Just give me a second to talk to Clarke," Lexa said, standing up to exit Anya's office and make her way to the blonde, who was sat in the waiting room reading a medical journal. 

 

When Clarke heard footsteps approach, she looked up and smiled at Lexa. "Hey, are you all done?"

 

"Uh, yeah, for the most part, but I have a favor to ask of you," Lexa said nervously. 

 

"Sure, go for it," Clarke encouraged her. 

 

"I have to head to the courthouse to finalize Anna's guardianship, and I know it's your day off and everything but I was—"

 

"Sure," Clarke told her, already standing up and pocketing her phone. 

 

"If you don't want to , that's fine, too, because I don't want to dictate your day off."

 

"It sounds like you're trying to talk me out of it," Clarke teased, making Lexa blush a little. "It's fine, though. It makes it easier if we know for sure that the court approves so that everything at the hospital goes smoothly. I've had kids get guardians who'd refuse to get treatment because the guardians were such assholes. I know you'd want to do everything in your sister's best interest."

 

Lexa silently nodded her head in agreement. 

 

Clarke smiled. "Okay, then. So, when do you want to leave?"

 

"Anya needs to come with us, so I just need to tell her so that we can all go," Lexa told her. "Just give me a minute."

 

When Lexa walked back to Anya's office, she found her best friend locking the door with her briefcase in one hand. 

 

"How were you certain that we were going to leave now?" Lexa asked when Anya turned around. "She could've said no."

 

"Maybe in your deepest, darkest fears that would happen, but in real life, that is not an option," Anya answered her. "Come on, let's go. You should call Gus and tell him to meet you there."

 

"Why would I do that?"

 

"That's who you were going to leave in charge, right?"

 

"You know, I sometimes hate the fact that you know me so well."

 

"Deal with it."

 

A little less an hour and a half later, Anya and Lexa walked out of the courtroom with the judge's approval of Lexa's guardianship over her sister. Lexa had called Gustus before she entered the courtroom with Anya, and had informed Clarke of what he would look like in case he came before they were done. but she hadn't expected to find him waiting in the lobby and laughing with Clarke. Lexa raised a brow at their interaction, but otherwise ket her opinion to herself as they approached the pair.

 

"Wow, that didn't take long," Clarke noted, glancing at there watch once she spotted Anya and Lexa. "You barely took twenty minutes."

 

"I work fast," Anya informed her. "Nice to see you, Gus."

 

"Hello Anya, Lexa," Gustus greeted them. "As much as I love surprise gatherings, I'm a little confused as to what this one is about. I know your parents and sister took a week off, Lexa, so this is a little weird."

 

"My parents didn't take a week off, Gustus," Lexa spoke, feeling a tightness in her chest. Anya and Clarke took this as their cue to leave.

 

"I was personally informed by your father, unless they decided to extend thei—"

 

"They're dead," Lexa told him, cutting him off. "They've been dead for a few days. They were driving with Anna to my house and were t-boned at an intersection."

 

"I see," Gustus finally spoke after several moments of silence. "Would you like to release an official statement to the press?"

 

"Monday morning," she said with no emotion. "I'll write the speech myself."

 

"I'll have to inform the VP and the rest of the executives," he told her. "The VP will act in place of your father. We'll have to find someone else to replace the other VP position your mother held."

 

"The company's been left to Anna," she told him. "Since she won't be turning eighteen until graduation, I'm taking her place as president until she can recover and take over. I have a lot of responsibilities at the moment, so I'll be placing you in charge. I haven't met the other VP, so I don't trust him, but I know that I can trust you. I want you to be the other VP and act in my place."

 

"Of course. I'd be honored," Gustus told her. 

 

"Thank you," she said, pulling him in for a hug.

 

**

 

"You said that I could try again during lunch," Aden said as soon as Tris walked out of her English class. He'd been waiting patiently by the door to talk to her as soon as he could. "So, it's lunch, and I've been beating myself up because I'm a big idiot."

 

"Wow, it took you nearly eighteen years to figure that one out," Tris sarcastically remarked as Aden fell into step with her to walk to her locker. "You figured it out much faster than I expected you to, and all by yourself. Maybe we can upgrade you from Hopeless Idiot to Full-Time Idiot."

 

"Okay, I deserved that one," he agreed just as they arrived at Tris' locker. Aden leaned against the locker adjacent to hers an readjusted the strap of his bag. "I'm really sorry, Tris."

 

"I know," she said, turning to him once she opened her locker. "You didn't mean it, and I was kind of being a bitch this morning."

 

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" He asked, and she nodded her head. "So, what's wrong?"

 

"Do you know Anna Woods?"

 

"The rich girls who's not at school half the time because she's working at her parents' company?" 

 

"Yeah."

 

"What about her?"

 

"I know it doesn't really seem like it because because we don't hang out much at school, but she and I grew up together, and we're really close. She's kind of been MIA the last few days, and I'm kind of worried."

 

"Guys, they have nachos for lunch!" Charlotte exclaimed upon reaching them, but quickly dropped the topic when she saw the look on Tris' face. "What's wrong?"

 

"Tris is best friends with Anna Woods," Aden told her.

 

Charlotte furrowed her brows in confusion. "The rich girl with a 4.3 GPA and a crappy attendance?"

 

"Yeah, her," Aden confirmed. "She hasn't been answering Tris' texts, so Beatrice over here is worried."

 

"But she works at a big-time company, right?" Isn't she just busy or something?"

 

"She's usually not busy enough to text me a little each day, even if she's riding the car to a meeting or something," Tris told them, grabbing her lunch and slamming her locker door shut. "And even is she _is_ too busy to text or talk to me, she'd usually give me a warning beforehand telling me that she can't talk for a few days, and I'd wait for her to text me first."

 

"Well, maybe that's what happened this time," Aden suggested as they began walking to the cafeteria. 

 

"No," Tris said, shaking her head. "Her parents took this whole week off, and she did, too, so there's no way that she's working. I've got a really bad feeling about this, guys."

 

"Look, if it's bothering you this much, I can take you to her house today after school," Aden told her. "It's Friday, anyway, and we get to skip study hall and go home half an hour early because of senior privileges."

 

"I want to tag along," Charlotte said. "Mostly because I want to see how rich this girl really is."

 

"Her house doesn't reflect her wealth. It's kind of normal, to be honest," Tris told her. 

 

"Still, there has to be a fancy painting hanging somewhere, right?" Charlotte asked. "Or maybe an antique vase."

 

Tris rolled her eyes. "You're hopeless, Char. Come on. Let's go feed you."

 

"Do they have some family heirloom out on display? Or a butler and a kitchen staff? I've always wanted my own personal sushi chef."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and feedback are much appreciated. Have a lovely day :)


	7. Chapter 7

Raven had just finished an emergency surgery on a college basketball player that had taken all morning when she walked into the on call room, suddenly wishing that she hadn't. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

 

"Doctor Reyes," the nurse squeaked, pulling the blanket to cover herself, while Bellamy sat there looking smug half-naked. 

 

"Hey, Raven," Bellamy greeted, having the audacity to even send her a little wave.

 

"I've been paging you for the last ten minutes, asshole," she scowled. "Stop fucking the nurses and meet me outside. I need you for a consult." She picked up his discarded scrubs on the floor and threw them at his face. "Don't turn us into that stereotypical hospital full of doctors who can't keep it in their pants."

 

"That wasn't nice," he reprimanded, moving the clothes away from his face to and got up from the bed. 

 

"Hide your junk. If you're not out in two minutes, I'm dragging you out by your ear," Raven warned him, then shifted her gaze to the nurse hiding underneath the sheets. "And you. Get back to work. We're in a damn hospital, not a brothel. "

 

Raven sent one more glare Bellamy's way and walked out, shutting the door behind her. "I'm dealing with a bunch of idiots, I swear," Raven muttered, walking to the nurse's station and grabbing the file she had pulled out earlier.

 

"Alright, I'm here," Bellamy announced less than a minute late, adjusting the stethoscope around his neck. "What's got you in a pissy mood?"

 

"I've been trying to reach you, and I know you're deliberately ignoring my pages just to annoy me."

 

"It usually takes a lot to piss you off," he told her, a devilish grin on his face. "I'm just taking advantage of the fact that you lost and owe me drinks tomorrow at The Dropship."

 

Raven rolled her eyes at him just as Lincoln approached the two of them. "Hey, guys. Have you seen O?"

 

Bellamy dropped his attitude and puffed his chest at Lincoln. "And what would you need my sister for?"

 

"Bell, get rid of your alpha ego for two seconds. We're in a hospital. He could need her for a billion different reasons," Raven told him before turning to Lincoln. "She's avoiding you."

 

At this, both Bellamy and Lincoln turned to her in confusion, echoing the same thought. "Why?"

 

"I can't release such critical info, so you're going to have to find that one out yourself," she told Lincoln, just as Bellamy and Lincoln's pagers went off, and by the looks on their faces, Raven knew it was a bad one. "Alright, go save some lives. I'll get Monty to help me out, Bell."

 

He only nodded at her before he and Lincoln quickly made their way down to the ER, pulling on gloves and cover ups before they made their way outside the ER doors to wait for the ambulance, and by some luck or maybe the workings of the universe, Octavia happened to be waiting there already with a few interns. 

 

When Octavia turned around at the sound of the opening of the doors, she immediately internally cursed her bad luck when she saw Lincoln approaching with her brother. Of all the people from peds and plastics, they just _had_ to pick the worst possible combination for her that day.

 

"So, what do we have?" Bellamy asked upon reaching his sister, and Octavia internally groaned when she realized that she was sandwiched between her boyfriend (fiancé?) and her brother. 

 

"Thirty-year-old pregnant female who drove into a tiki torch stand and has several burns on her body with trauma to the chest," she told them, thankful that medicine was their choice of topic at the moment. "She's twenty-eight weeks pregnant and the burns range from second to third degree."

 

"Shit," Bellamy cursed. "How far out are they?"

 

Octavia heard the sirens before she saw the ambulance. "They're here."

 

They wasted no time in opening the doors to the ambulance and getting to work, surprised to see only one EMT at work. "Sarah James, thirty-year-old female with second and third degree burns across her torso and limbs. Pregnant twenty-eight weeks and she knocked out the other paramedic about ten seconds ago."

 

True to his word, Octavia could see the other EMT unconscious on the floor of the ambulance. She turned to her interns and barked out orders. "Half of you come with me and the other half get him on a gurney and page neuro."

 

"Let's move!" Bellamy ordered, wheeling the gurney with the others into one of the ER examination room. 

 

"Damn it," one of the interns, Sterling, muttered as he and the two others climbed into the ambulance to reach the unconscious paramedic. :They get to have fun with the burnt pregnant lady and we're stuck here with this idiot."

 

"You have to admit," Jace, one of the other interns, said as they pulled the EMT up to a sitting position. "The pregnant lady's got skill. Burning and pregnant and she _still_ managed to knock out this guy."

 

"Guys, he's bleeding," Charlie, the their intern, said, pointing to the pool of blood that was under the body. "Like, a shit ton."

 

"Shit," Jace cursed, and they all snapped into action.

 

Sterling immediately looked for a pulse, and pulled his hand away in defeat when he couldn't find one. "Get a crash cart. Page neuro now!"

 

**

 

"Lexa," Anna smiled as her sister and doctor walked into the room. "Doctor Griffin."

 

Clarke smiled at her patient as Lexa moved closer and greeted her sister with a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Hey, I'm sorry I'm late. How are you feeling?"

 

"Pain meds are numbing the pain, but I'm okay," she answered, putting o a brave face even though her body was weak. 

 

Clarke walked over to the chart and checked on Anna's progress while the siblings talked. "So, I went to the court today, and I got your guardianship approved," Lexa told her, taking a seat on the chair next to her sister's bed, "You'll be living with me once you get discharged."

 

"How long will that take?" Anna asked, turning her gaze to the blonde at the foot of her bed. "Doctor Griffin?"

 

"Hm?" Clarke looked up to find the two Woods siblings expectantly staring at her. "Sorry, what was your question?"

 

"How long do you think it'll take before I get discharged?" Anna asked her.

 

"Well, we'll need to wait to take out the staples in your head, which probably won't be until around the Monday of the week your sister gets back to work, actually," Clarke said, trying to come up with a rough timeline in her head. "We'll need to take scans before we discharge you, and then have you come back a few times a week for PT so that you can get used to the wheelchair and build up some muscle. We might discharge you as early as that Monday, but you'll have to take it easy for a while."

 

"Your winter break is after the end of next week, so you'll have a bit of time before getting you back to school. I don't want you to push yourself, so I might just have them prep the work so that you can study at home," Lexa told her. "Are you hungry? Did you eat anything?"

 

"A little before you came," Anna said, and it was quite obvious that she was tired and needed to rest, but was fighting to stay awake because her sister was next to her.

 

"Well, Lexa still needs to go out and eat lunch and sign a few things, so why don't we leave you to go get some rest and come back later in the afternoon, okay?" Clarke asked, and Anna could barely mutter out an answer before her eyes drooped and she fell asleep again.

 

"Sleep tight," Lexa whispered, pressing a light kiss to her sister's forehead before following Clarke out of he room. "I've never seen her so weary. She's usually so energetic."

 

"She's dealing with a lot of stress and trauma to her body, so it's likely that she won't be very alert since her body needs to rest," Clarke told her. "Have you thought about where you two are going to live after she's discharged?"

 

"No, actually," Lexa said, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her pants as she walked with Clarke through the halls of the hospital. "All I know is that there's absolutely _no way_ I can go back to my house. I don't even know where to start."

 

"How about lunch?" Clarke asked, and Lexa lifted her head up to meet the blue eyes of the blonde doctor as they stopped in front of the elevator. "There's a sushi restaurant around the corner. They have bomb-ass sashimi."

 

Lexa lifted her lips to form a half-smile as Clarke pressed the button for the elevator. "I don't even know what that is."

 

"Okay, no. If we're going to be talking to each other often, you need to know what the difference between sashimi and sushi rolls is," Clarke declared and she and Lexa feel into a momentary silence with secretive smiles on their faces. Even when the elevator sounded its arrival, Clarke never once broke eye contact. "Come on. Let's go."

 

**

 

"So," Bellamy spoke, breaking the silence that was in the OR. He momentarily lifted his eyes to glance across the table at his sister, who was hell bent on ignoring his stare. "How's your day going?"

 

"Bell, I've lived with you in the same house for nineteen consecutive years, and then for another five during my residency when I moved here, and now you live down the road from me. We have nearly all the same shifts and we have the same holidays off. Do you _really_ care about how my day is going?"

 

Bellamy's eyes widened at his sister's sudden aggression, and he even exchanged a look of concern with Lincoln, who was standing right next to him, before looking back at Octavia. "I'm sorry?"

 

Octavia sighed and held out her hand to the surgical nurse. "Just stop talking. Forceps, please."

 

"You okay, O?" Lincoln asked in concern.

 

"Perfectly fine," she practically growled.

 

**

 

"Try it," Clarke urged, and Lexa glanced hesitantly between her, the sushi chef and the food in front of her. "I swear, it tastes really good."

 

"Raw octopus?" Lexa asked her. Sure, she's tried salmon and tuna in sushi, but this was a whole new level.

 

"Very good. Come fresh from Japan," the sushi chef, Eiji, told her in accented English.

 

"Okay," Lexa said unsurely, taking the piece of octopus off the race and dipping in the mixture of wasabi and soy sauce before bringing it to her mouth to chew.

 

"Well?" Clarke pressed, watching in amusement the changing of Lexa's facial expressions as she chewed.

 

Lexa nodded her head and swallowed. "It's good. Weird texture, but good taste."

 

"Haha, success!" Clarke cheered, high-fiving Eiji. "Okay, then we'll take hamachi, negitoro rolls and ika sashimi between the two of us."

 

Eiji nodded in confirmation before beginning to prepare the food. Clarke had driven them to the sushi restaurant and had them sit in front of the sushi chef, who prepared their food in front of them. 

 

"How long have you been coming here?" Lexa asked the blonde, who began eating her own tako sashimi.

 

"Well, this place opened when my dad was still in middle school, I think, and he started coming here since then, bringing my mom and me when we came along. I've been going to this place my whole life, except for a fifteen year gap period from when I was living in Minnesota with my grandma and Aden," Clarke explained. "The first words Eiji said to me was, 'you're so tall!'"

 

"I was very surprised," Eiji said, laughing along with Clarke. "But now Clarke comes every week."

 

"You come here with Aden?" Lexa asked.

 

"Sometimes. I usually come here Wednesday and Friday nights. Aden might tag along if he's not busy, or maybe Octavia and Raven, but it just really depends."

 

"Anya an dI used to just drink and shout at crime shows her apartment, but I think I might bring her here. She loves sushi."

 

"Yeah, you should definitely come! Bring her next Friday. I'm coming here, so you guys might as well join me," Clarke told her.

 

"I'll have to double check with her, but she'll likely be able to come."

 

"Cool. Hey, even if she can't make it, you should still join me," Clarke said, and Lexa felt her heart rate pick up just the slightest bit, which was stupid because Clarke wasn't implying a date, right?

 

"One order of hamachi," Eiji announced, and the lawyer and doctor thanked him as they accepted the sashimi. 

 

"So, where should I start with Anna?" Lexa asked, confusing Clarke momentarily. "At home, I mean. You said that I should probably start thinking about where we would live, and my parents left the house for me in their will, so I think that's where I'll probably live with Anna. I mean, her room is already there, and the house is closer to the hospital and near to the school. Plus, there's a spare bedroom on the first floor that I could turn into Anna's new room."

 

"If you'd like, I could take a look around the first floor. I mean, I'm not a total expert, but I could point out some things for you to change or adjust on short notice so that it would help Anna out a little when she's discharged," Clarke said.

 

"Yeah, that would be great actually. When are you free to do it?"

 

"We could go after lunch, if you want. Your sister is probably still sleeping and won;t be awake until a nurse wakers her up to take her meds around four," Clarke told her. "If you want to, that is. I don't wan to make you feel rushed. I've got the whole weekend free."

 

"No, it's okay. It's probably best to do it now, anyway. I can make phone calls over the weekend to have people come in and fi things up once the week starts again," Lexa said. "So, what's hamachi?"

 

**

 

"The sound of the school bell is a wonderful thing, is it not?" Charlotte sighed, slipping into the back seat of Aden's car. 

 

"Well, that depends," Aden told her as he and Tris got into their respective seats, Aden passing his backpack to Charlotte so that she could dump it on the seat next to her.

 

"On what?"

 

"Whether it's the warning bell, the late bell, the dismissal bell or the bell that marks the start of class," he answered as he started his car. "If it's anything other than the dismissal bell, then I consider it a shitty sound, but the dismissal bell is music to my ears, because it means that I don't have to sit though Dr. Stanford's boring mini-lesson on Euclid's contribution to math."

 

"Okay, if you have anything higher than a ninety in that class, stop complaining," she told him. "She gave me a C on the last test. If it were up to me, I'd be cooking in a kitchen all day instead of doing those stupid homework packets. 

 

"I honestly don't know how culinary school is going to survive you," Aden sighed.

 

"Don't you mean the opposite?"

 

"Nope," Aden told her, pulling out of the parking spot. "So, Tris, where am I going?"

 

"Her house is by Dropship, the bar near the hospital," Tris told him, and he continued down the road before turning at a stoplight that would take him in the direction of the hospital. 

 

"Play some music," he told her, and she connected her phone to the bluetooth, connecting to Aden's car, and picked a playlist on her phone. Aden groaned when he heard the first instrumental note, already regretting not letting Charlotte ride shotgun. "Country? Really? _Again?_ "

 

Tris drowned out Aden's groans by turning up the volume and jamming out with Charlotte to Hunter Hayes.

 

"You guys are such assholes," he yelled over the chorus, to which Tris merely flipped him off. 

 

And could have taken control and switched it to play rock or something from the radio. He could've, but he also knew knew that Tris had smoked that morning, and she _hated_ smoking, only finding it necessary when she was stressed or worried, and the country jam session with Charlotte was to get rid of all those nervous jitters, because as much as Tris would try to deny it, she worried about people, _a lot_.

 

And so, Aden stayed silent, pretending to be annoyed at Tim McGraw and Hunter Hayes and Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert because Tris was nervous. When he killed the engine of what Tris had pointed out as Anna Woods' house almost fifteen minutes later, Tris grew quiet, and all three teenagers stared at the house for several minutes before Charlotte broke the silence. 

 

"Do you want us to go in with you?" Charlotte asked her. 

 

"Please," Tris whispered, and that was all that it took for her and Aden to exit the car and walked down the sidewalk and up the Woods' driveway with Tris. "That's her car," Tris told them, pointing to the four-doored Audi in the driveway.

 

"That means she's probably home, right?"

 

"Maybe," Tris shrugged, climbing steps and ringing the doorbell, her stomach feeling uneasy. When no one answered the door two minutes later, Tris reached up to one of the porch lights and began unscrewing the lid.

 

"Uh, what are you doing?" Aden asked her.

 

"I have a bad feeling, and my gut is telling me to go in," she told him, producing a spare key that was taped to the inside of the lip, taking it out to unlock the front door, making sure to put it back before going in. "Anna?"

 

"Um, are you sure you should be doing this?" Aden asked, hesitant to follow her, but did so anyway, leaving Charlotte to close the door behind them. 

 

"I could've waltzed in here like this was my second house and nobody would care," she told him. "Anna, it's Tris. Are you home?"

 

She was met by silence, so she turned to Aden. "I'm going to check her room upstairs. I'll be right back."

 

Even if he wanted to protest, Aden couldn't say anything because she bolted up the stairs, and Aden sighed. He turned to talk to Charlotte, only to notice that she wasn't by his side. "Char? Where'd you go?"

 

Charlotte walked out from the kitchen with a bowl of quinoa salad in hand, eating out of it like it was cereal. "Kitchen," she answered him.

 

"What the hell are you eating?"

 

"Quinoa salad," she told him, offering her bowl out to him. "Want some?"

 

"No! This isn't our house. You can't walk in here and start eating their food."

 

"Your loss," she shrugged, bringing the bowl closer to her to take another spoonful in her mouth. "It's a good salad. Think they have a personal chef?"

 

"I don't know! Go put their food back."

 

"I'm hungry, though," Charlotte whined. "Besides, it looks like they haven't been home for a few days."

 

"How would you know that?" 

 

"There was a list of reminders on the fridge, and one of them was to mail something to someone named Jack Darcy by yesterday, and the letter was out in the open on the island in the kitchen, sealed and stamped. If the parents are as perfect as their daughter, there's no way they'd miss sending something that's sitting in front of their faces."

 

"Guys," Tris called out, rushing down the stairs and meeting them in the living room. "She's gone. I don't know where, or why, but she dropped off the face of the Earth. She hasn't taken any of her supplements the last few days, and her dad has this tie that he _always_ wears on Friday, but it's hanging in the hall by the dryer. I'm really freaked out by now."

 

The sound of an approaching motor made Aden's blood freeze. "Did you hear that?"

 

"Someone just parked in their driveway," Charlotte said, moving to the windows to take a look through the blinds, only to be held back by Aden.

 

"Are you crazy?" He hissed. "None of us were invited here, and they might get pissed if they see us here. We need to hide."

 

When he heard footsteps nearing the front door, Aden pulled them to hide behind the couch.

 

"I haven't been here in about two weeks, so if you find financial papers strewn in random places, please just disregard them," Lexa told her as she opened the front door. 

 

"It's fine. Aden finds some of my medical papers the fridge sometimes," Clarke told her, and Lexa raised a curious brow. "You don't wanna know."

 

Aden's brow furrowed at the recognition of his mother's voice. 

 

"Is that your mom?" Charlotte whispered to her friend, to which she received an a nod of confirmation. "What the hell is she doing here?" 

 

"I don't know," he whispered to her. 

 

"At least you don't forget your phone in the fridge," Lexa told her, closing the door behind them. "Well, actually, it's more like I get annoyed when people call me at odd hours, so I just leave it there hoping the battery freezes before the next person finds it and brings it back to me."

 

"Then wouldn't it make more sense to leave it in the freezer?"

 

"Yeah, but nobody actually forgets their phone in the freezer," Lexa said, moving to the living room. "It's the fridge at work, so I have to at least make it seem to Anya that it's somewhat believable that I left the phone there."

 

"There are so many things that I could say to rebut your argument, but you're a lawyer and you argue for a living, so I'm just going to stay quiet."

 

Just barely after Clarke said her last sentence, Charlotte's spoon fell to the ground, and the doctor and lawyer froze at the sound. Aden and Tris both glared at their friend, who sent them apologetic looks. 

 

Lexa made a motion for Clarke to stay quiet and picked up a hardcover book that was near her, slowly approaching the back of the couch, getting ready to strike at any moment. When she saw that Tris and two other teenagers were behind the couch, she froze. "What the fuck? Tris?"

 

"Lexa," Tris greeted with a small, nervous wave as she and her friends stood up from behind the couch. 

 

"Aden?" Clarke asked in confusion when she saw her son.

 

"Mom," Aden said, mirroring his confusion as to why his mother was here, though upon seeing Lexa, it seemed less weird than it was originally. 

 

"Charlotte!"

 

Tris, Aden, Clarke and Lexa turned to the brunette, who was still holding her salad in hand.

 

"I felt kinda left out," Charlotte said with a shrug.

 

"Are you eating from my parents' fridge?" Lexa asked, spotting the bowl that she'd made in her ceramics class back in high school.

 

"I was hungry," Charlotte told her.

 

"Aren't you three supposed to be in school?" Clarke asked, glancing at her watch. "The bell doesn't dismiss you for another ten minutes."

 

"Seniors get to ditch study hall every Friday and go home early," Aden told her, making Clarke roll her eyes.

 

"Of course they do," Clarke muttered. "What are you guys even doing here? As far as I know, none of you live in this neighborhood."

 

"Well, that's the thing," Tris said, turning to address Lexa. "Your sister hasn't been answering my texts, and I know she wouldn't drop off the face of the planet willingly without giving me a heads up."

 

"Wait, you're Anna's sister?" Aden asked in confusion.

 

"You know Anna?" Clarke asked him.

 

"Of her," Charlotte said. "Tris is the only one of us who;s actually friends with her."

 

"Wait, mom, how do you know her?"

 

"Did Anya not tell you?" Lexa asked Tris.

 

"Tell me what?" The weird, dreadful feeling was back, and Tris felt some really bad news coming up. "Why does my sister need to pass on the news about my best friend?"

 

Lexa looked back at Clarke for help, and it was clear that she didn't know how to break the news to her. Lexa herself had gotten drunk after breaking down in front of her parents' dead bodies.

 

"It'll be easier to show you," Clarke told Tris. "Follow us in Aden's car."

 

**

 

"Oh my God," Tris whispered, feeling tears fall unwillingly and coat her cheeks. Anna looked towards the door in surprise from staring at the ceiling, and felt saddened when she saw her best friend break down at the sight of her in the doorway. 

 

"Hey," Anna croaked out, wincing in pain when she tried to clear her throat. 

 

Tris dropped her bag and rushed over to Anna's side, stopping her hand from reaching out to touch her, afraid that if she so much as breathed in her presence, Anna would break into tiny little pieces. 

 

"Don't cry," Anna told her, reaching out to take ahold of Tris' hand. "I'm sorry that I couldn't text you back."

 

"What happened?" Tris whispered, her voice cracking as she was on the verge of collapsing. She wanted to scream and shout and punch a wall in anger and sadness, but found her fingers tracing over the cuts on Anna's face.

 

"My parents died," Anna started out, feeling her own tears pool at her eyes. "We got t-boned, and they brought us here. They died on the operating table, and I didn't. I feel like shit. I want to drink, but I can't, because I'm on meds and my body feels so fucking weird right now."

 

Tris knew that there was nothing she could say to make it better, so she just wrapped her arms around Anna, being careful not to touch any area that was bandaged or had needles sticking out of it. And she stayed like that, hugging Anna for who knows how long, both of them silently crying.

 

"Aden, Charlotte and I broke into your house," Tris told her, voice slightly muffled. 

 

"You used the spare key, didn't you?" Tris nodded her head in confirmation, making Anna laugh a little. "You practically grew up there. We'd never press charges."

 

They lay there in silence, and the fatigue was becoming too much for Anna, who'd unwilling began drifting off to sleep. Tris could feel the change in Anna's breathing, and she only pulled bucket sit in the chair next to Anna's bed, holding one of Anna's hands between her own. Anna's hair was greasy and her head was wrapped in bandages, though it seemed like there was less hair than usual. She had a neck brace that looked unbearable and a thousand and one cuts all over her body.

 

"You didn't die," Tris whispered, feeling the tears fall again as she squeeze Anna's hand, almost as if she was making sure that she was really. _You didn't die, you're alive,_ was all that Tris could think as she sat there, crying in silence and feeling her heart break at the sight of Anna in pain. 

 

_You didn't die, you didn't die, you didn't die, you didn't die, you didn't die._

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your kind comments and concerns! My mom is doing better, and my move has been somewhat a challenge, but I'm still settling in. That said, I don't know how frequent updates are going to be, but I'll try to shoot for at least once a month, and the same will go for my other story. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update Like A Fool, but hopefully by the end of the month.
> 
> Happy New Year to you all, and I hope you enjoy this chapter ;)

"So, do you want to talk about it?" Lincoln began as he and Octavia scrubbed out after the surgery. The mother and baby had both managed to survive, though at one point, it looked like they were both going to flatline.

 

"No," Octavia answered.

 

"You snapped at your brother, O," Lincoln told her, shutting off the water and drying his hands.

 

"I realize that," Octavia said, turning off the water and wringing her hands out before grabbing paper towels to dry them. 

 

"I'm not a mind reader, O. I can't help you if you won't talk to me."

 

Octavia promptly ignored him and attempted to exit, but Lincoln blocked her path. "Can you move? I have patients to see."

 

"Okay, cut the bullshit for five minutes and talk to me. I know you've been avoiding me," he said, staring directly at her, hoping that she would meet his eyes.

 

"Fucking Raven," Octavia muttered, knowing that it was impossible for Clarke to tell him since it was her day off.

 

"Don't get pissed at her," he said. "O, look at me."

 

Octavia clenched her jaw and lifted her head to meet Lincoln's eyes. "What, Lincoln?"

 

"Can you please tell me what's bothering you?" He practically begged, eyes softening. "Is this about the ring?"

 

"Of course it's about the fucking ring," she snapped.

 

Ouch. "Do you not want to get married?"

 

"No, Lincoln, I don't. I'm head of trauma at thirty. I just published the results of a ten million dollar study with a grant from the NIH and I'm in a really good place right now. I don't want to fuck that up. I don't want to marry you."

 

"I'm not asking you to throw away your career, O. I'm asking you to marry me and spend the rest of our lives together."

 

"My career is my life!" Octavia yelled. "I've built myself from the ground up. Bellamy and I both! I started from nothing, Lincoln. _Nothing_. Literally. I've been on welfare up to my teens. I didn't know what being healthy meant until I met Clarke and her grandma started feeding me home cooked meals. I weighed eighty-five pounds when I was fourteen, Lincoln. People used to think I was anorexic because I was literally skin and bones and nothing else. I don't want to get fucking married because people made promises all the time to me when I was a kid. My dad promised he was going to come back and my mom _swore_ to me that she was going to stop drinking and then killed her liver next door while I was studying. I've had enough promises for a lifetime, and I'm going to depend on myself right now. If you'll excuse me, I have post-ops to check on."

 

Without so much as another look Lincoln's way, Octavia pushed past the pediatrics attending and left the room, leaving Lincoln frozen in his spot. For the couple of months they've been dating, Octavia hadn't once mentioned anything about her life before meeting Clarke in Minnesota, and even the story of her meeting Clarke was vague. He'd tried to ask her several times, but she'd kept dodging the question, and when he tried with Bellamy, the elder Blake just glared at Lincoln and walked away. And now, Lincoln understood. Why Octavia never threw away even a single grain of rice. Why she always made sure to eat plenty when she could. Why she was determined and strong and everything that made Octavia herself. 

 

And Lincoln might have just lost all of that. 

 

**

 

"Well, now, my sister officially hates me. Thanks, Lexa," Anya remarked rather sarcastically after exiting Anna's room. Lexa had fired off a warning text before she left the driveway, and Anya breathed down the necks of her employees during a meeting so that she could talk to her sister at the hospital. 

 

"How the fuck was I supposed to know you didn't tell her?" Lexa asked. "You two don't keep secrets from each other."

 

"Well, I didn't want her to ditch half of a school week," Anya said. "I was going to text her when school ended, but that backfired."

 

"Anya, this is her best friend we're talking about here. They met when they were three. I met you when I was fourteen. If I Tris kept it a secret that I was in an accident and can't feel half my body, you would skin her alive and throw her in boiling oil."

 

"Well, I don't know what you want me to say. I'm her sister, not her mom," Anya told her, glancing at her phone when it buzzed. "I have to head back to work and call my parents so they know where she is."

 

"You know she's not going to want to leave right?"

 

"She has to. Hospitals have rules and shit like that," Anya reminded her. "Anyway, I'm heading out. If you talk to Tris and think that she doesn't posses any more murderous thoughts, give me a call."

 

"Honestly, how the fuck are you my boss?"

 

"It's all in the heels, Lex," Anya said with a wink, backtracking down the hall. 

 

"You're ridiculous," Lexa told her. 

 

"You love it."

 

Lexa watched as her blonde friend turned and began dialing her phone, then turned around and saw Clarke talking to Aden in a quiet corner of the hallway.

 

"Seriously?" Aden whined. 

 

"I don't want you skipping study hall on Fridays," Clarke said firmly. 

 

"Why? Nobody even does anything. We're literally on our phones the whole time. My teacher isn't even in the classroom. He marks us all present, so my attendance isn't affected."

 

"Well, if you're going to spend your Fridays ditching the last half hour of school, then you might as well take those pictures for the hospital that I know you've been putting off," Clarke said with a devious smile. "I know that you're going to be taking pictures for two, maybe three hours tops, A. Just come along next Friday after school. You have a half-day anyway, right?"

 

"I really hate it when you blackmail me."

 

"That's parenting, sweetheart," Clarke grinned, patting her son on the shoulder, then dropping it when she saw one of her colleagues pass her. 

 

Aden noticed the sudden change of attitude, and it wasn't the first time that it happened. For the three years since he and Clarke moved back, Aden could count the number of people who knew that Clarke was his mom. "I told you that I don't care. People are always going to stare."

 

Clarke smiled weakly at her son. "You shouldn't have to be punished for that, A."

 

"People get thrown into prison or get killed in war, everyday, mom," Aden whispered. "Innocent people always seem to get punished nowadays. As sad as it is, it's the new norm, but what matters is your attitude about it. You could be bitter and hate the world or you could face it. You're young enough to be my sister, and people are going to stare, but I could honestly care less. They can be ignorant if they want to be, but at least I know that you love me and care about me."

 

Clarke's smile had morphed into a small yet strong one. "When did you become such a man, A?"

 

Lexa walked up hesitantly to the mother-son duo. "Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you were still up for taking a look at the house, Clarke. Tris is going to stay here with Anna, so I know that she'll have someone to stay with her until I come back, at least."

 

"Yeah, sure," Clarke told her, smiling as she turned to her son. "You should probably take Charlotte home and relax for a bit at home. We'll order in."

 

Aden furrowed his brows. "We're not eating sushi tonight?"

 

"No, I thought we could hang out, you and me until Rae and O get home," she told him. "Just pick a place and order. I'll be home in about two hours. If you see your aunts on your way out, ask them for their orders."

 

"Okay, see you at home," he told her "Love you."

 

"Love you, too. Drive safe," she said before he left, then turned to Lexa. "So, back to your place, yeah?"

 

**

 

"And just to be safe, you can install a wheelchair elevator if she really wants to go upstairs," Clarke told her, getting to the last of her points after spending half an hour pointing out some stuff to Lexa while she checked out the first floor. "It's really difficult for a lot of patients who've taken a permanent hit to their health and have had their lives change drastically, especially if they've been paralyzed or forced to use a wheelchair. It can be really difficult to be around them because they feel so helpless, and it may be best to keep things as normal as possible. Don't try to walk on eggshells, but don't try to outright ignore her either."

 

"Sounds kind of hard," Lexa said.

 

"Nobody ever said it was going to be easy," Clarke told her. 

 

"Right," Lexa nodded. "Well, thanks for coming by. You were a really big help, and I'm sorry that this had to happen on your day off."

 

"Don't worry about it. I'm happy to help," Clarke smiled. "Do you need a ride back to the hospital?"

 

"I really feel bad that you're doing all of this for me."

 

"Well, then, you can think of a way to repay me later," Clarke suggested.

 

"Do you like wine? I've got a really nice bottle that I'd think you'd like."

 

"I do, but I'm not too picky. Honestly, you could get me a box of gum and I'd be happy."

 

"Gum?"

 

"As gross as it may sound, I've pulled plenty of long shifts, and sometimes, I don't have the energy to brush my teeth. So, yeah," Clarke said. "To the hospital then?"

 

"Yep," Lexa agreed, walking with Clarke to the front door. "Maybe I'll get you breath mints or a travel size toothbrush and toothpaste or something."

 

"Haha, you're _so_ funny," Clarke mocked. 

 

"You're a doctor. Shouldn't hygiene be like a huge thing for you? You know, with the sterilization of equipment and everything?" 

 

"Yeah, but when you've been pulling four seven-hour long surgeries in a row, you kind of don't really tend to care about brushing your teeth when there's someone bleeding out on the table in front of you," Clarke told her, waiting for Lexa to lock the door before walking over to Clarke's motorcycle.

 

"But, you've got a mask on, so don't you get grossed out when you smell your own breath?"

 

"That's what the gum is for."

 

"And all the plaque build up? Isn't that supposed to be bad for your heart or something?" Lexa asked, picking up the helmet off the seat without hesitation.

 

"Hey, I still try to brush them at least once a day." 

 

"Oh, my God, this conversation is disgusting."

 

"You're the one that keeps asking questions, so there's no one to blame but yourself," Clarke reminded her, straddling the bike after putting on her goggles. 

 

"Doctors are stupid," Lexa muttered in defeat.

 

"Thanks. I'll be sure to relay that to my medical degree from Mayo," Clarke told her, turning the engine on and kicking the kickstand. "Hold tight."

 

Clarke backed out of the driveway and drove back to the hospital, dropping Lexa off before making her way back home. She parked in the driveway and killed the engine before making her way inside, where Aden was already laying out the Mediterranean take out on the coffee table.

 

"Hey, mom," Aden greeted.

 

"Hey," Clarke said, giving him a kiss on the forehead and stealing a fry. "Your aunts not back yet?" 

 

"Rae just went into surgery. A basketball player came in and his tibia literally snapped in half after the buzzer beater. You could see the bone and everything," Aden told her, pulling out his phone to show Clarke the text Raven had sent him.

 

"Raven's gonna enjoy that one," Clarke said. "I'm pretty sure she was supposed to buy Bellamy drinks tonight because she lost a bet, so she's off the hook, at least for tonight. What about O?"

 

"She came in and looked really pissed off. She was taking a shower up until right around when you pulled into the driveway."

 

"Did she tell you why?"

 

"Mom, she literally looked like she was going to kill someone. I wasn't going to endanger myself to catch up on gossip. Women are terrifying when they're angry."

 

"Okay, I guess this means a wine and cry night," Clarke said, retreating into the kitchen to grab a few glasses and Octavia's favorite bottle of wine before making her way back to the living room, barely pouring the first glass before Octavia stole it out of her hands and chugged it. "Um, okay, then."

 

"Just give me the whole damn bottle," Octavia grumbled, glaring at Clarke when the blonde pulled the bottle away from her. "Clarke. Seriously?"

 

"You know that's not how we drink angry around here. I'm going to control how much you drink," Clarke told hero which Octavia scoffed and took a seat on the couch, knowing that it was futile to argue. 

 

"So," Clarke began, pouring Octavia another glass and handing it to her, along with a box of rice and kabob. "You wanna tell me what's wrong?"

 

"Why the fuck do people expect women to get married?" Octavia asked, Aden's eyes widening at the sudden burst of volume. "Like, seriously. It's a fucking double standard everything in this world. If a guy is successful and doesn't get married or have kids, no one's going to say shit about it. And if it was a women, they'd poke their nose into her business. Like, what the fuck?"

 

"On second thought, I think I'm going to eat in my room upstairs," Aden said, wasting no time in taking his food and bolting up the stairs. 

 

"I'm a little lost here," Clarke said, taking her own container and sitting down next to Octavia, who took a huge sip of her wine. 

 

"Lincoln and I got into a stupid fight today, and it's all because of this ring and marriage bullshit. Is it so bad to want to stay in a healthy relationship with a guy and not want to get married any time soon?"

 

"Well, no, but it must suck to be the one who wants to take the next step in the relationship while your partner doesn't."

 

"You're not helping."

 

"Hey, I'm being realistic here. I have to make you see his side of it, too," Clarke told her. "What did you guys fight about?"

 

Octavia pushed her food around her plate, not really in the mood to eat any of it. "I didn't want to get married, and he did. I don't think he understood that, and we fought and now I don't know where we stand."

 

"What did you guys say to each other? I can't really help you if you haven't told me what you said."

 

"I was being stupid and let what you guys said this morning fuck with my head, and I kind of snapped at Bell during surgery, and then Lincoln confronted me afterwards. He asked me what was wrong and I kept dodging his question until he said to stop bullshitting and I just snapped," Octavia told her. "I told him about how Bell and I basically grew up with nothing and that I'm in a good place right now and don't really want to depend on anyone else. Plenty of people have made promises that they never stick by, and that has basically fucked with the rest of my life."

 

"You want my opinion?" Clarke asked after a small lapse of silence.

 

"No, I came to you so we could take a scuba diving lesson together," Octavia deadpanned. "Of course I want your damn opinion."

 

"Well, to be honest, I think that even if the two of you had gotten married, you would've divorced in less than a year."

 

Octavia paused and looked up at Clarke, and the blonde took that as her cue to continue.

 

"Look, I'm not doubting that you and Lincoln really care about each other. You really love each other, and I think you guys are great people," Clarke told her. "Thing is though, your relationship is only about three months old, and you guys don't seem to talk to each other a lot, like really open up. Your outburst today sounds like it's the first time you've told him about it, right?"

 

Octavia nodded her head in confirmation.

 

"Right, so I think it was the better move for you guys to not get married right now. You have a pretty crappy time trusting people, and there's a lot of things that you and Lincoln probably don't know about each other. Honestly, it would be better now to have your big fights and revelations before you get married so that you both know what you're expecting when you do actually get married."

 

"When?"

 

"Yes, when, not if."

 

"You sound very confident about that."

 

"It's a gut feeling," Clarke told her, sending her a wink.

 

Octavia smiled and pulled Clarke in for a hug. "Thanks, C."

 

"Anytime. You know my door is always open," Clarke told her, squeezing Octavia before they pulled away. "Still want more wine?"

 

"Yes, please. I'm in the mood to watch that Hallmark movie where the parents go to college with their kids," Octavia told her, taking the glass of wine Clarke had just poured. "And cry, because life sucks and we can't all have a life like Hallmark movies."

 

"Okay. Might as well tell Aden to join us," Clarke agreed, taking the remote to scroll through their recordings. "Aden! We're gonna watch a movie!"

 

"Is it safe?" He yelled from upstairs. 

 

Octavia rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's safe! I'm not going to eat you!"

 

"I don't know. You kind of looked like Cruella de Vil for a minute there!" He yelled.

 

"Okay, if you don't come down here, I'm actually going to kick your ass for that comment!"

 

Aden's footsteps could be heard pounding down the stairs, and he reappeared with his dinner quickly. "Oh, come on! A Hallmark movie?"

 

"Okay, I've had a really crappy day and my relationship may go down in the dumps, so shut the hell up and sit next to me so that I can cry on your shoulder," Octavia told him, drunk and on the verge of tears. 

 

Aden shut his mouth and sat down on the other side of Octavia, wrapping and arm around her tiny frame and letting her cry into his chest. "Men are stupid, Aunt O."

 

"Why can't you be my age take me out on a date so I don't feel like shit?"

 

"Well, one, that would make mom in her mid-forties, and two, time machines haven't been invented yet," Aden told her. "In the meantime, we can watch sappy Hallmark movies and I can still take you to Six Flags."

 

"Clarke, your son is fucking perfect. Why can't you be an old lady and let us get married?"

 

"Because I like my youth," Clarke told her, pressing play and skipping the commercials. 

 

"Ugh. I hate you."

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for this late update, but things have been hectic, especially with the start of the semester at school. This story is going to be my main priority on here, so for those of you who were looking forward for another update for Like A Fool, it may take at least another week, but I promise that I haven't given up on these stories. 
> 
> Enjoy, and please leave a comment telling me what you thought about this chapter!

"How could you not tell me?" Tris asked Anya, the former angry at her sister for keeping such vital information. After the doctors practically kicked Tris out of Anna's room, the younger Stone girl glared at her sister all the way to the exit, where she waited until they stepped outside to explode from anger. "You know how important Anna is to me. She and Lexa and the rest of the Woods are family. We've known each other for a decade and a half!"

"Because I knew you were going to drop everything that you were doing to go see Anna," Anya answered, pulling out her keys to start the car from her remote.

"Of course I was going to fucking do that. Why the hell wouldn't I?"

"It was the middle of the school week when the accident happened, Tris. You've been so stressed about college applications and projects and tests these last few weeks, and I wasn't going to let you drop everything that you had. School is important. You have to finish high school, and this is your last year, kid."

"Oh, that is total bullshit and you know it, Anya. You're being such a fucking hypocrite," Tris spat, pausing momentarily so that the two of them could get inside the heated car, closing the doors after them. "If Lexa asked you to push a hill, you would move a mountain."

"My friendship with Lexa is different than yours with Anna. Lexa and I are both adults. We know that we don't have to be constantly connected. I could go days without calling or texting Lexa, and we work on the same floor."

"Anna can go weeks without talking to me. She's been doing that since she started working with her parents. That's not an excuse that you can give me."

"Tris, you have it so much easier as a teenager than you do as an adult, and teenagers are insecure. You need to have faith and confidence in or about something. That's a fact," Anya told her as they both put on their seat belts.

"I'm not insecure! I just care about Anna, and I don't understand why it's so hard for you to understand that I'm willing to drop everything in my life for her."

"Because you can't!" Anya snapped as she drove out of the hospital parking lot. "That's the problem. You have to focus on your schoolwork."

"Are you trying to say that some busy work is more important than my best friend's life?"

"No! You're blowing this way out of proportion."

"Well, that's what it sounds like."

"Look, when you're a teenager, you don't have to worry about much, especially since our family is doing well financially and overall. Your only job is to focus on school and get good grades so that you can go to college and get your own job. You think that just because that school is all that you have and that we've got money to get you into college, you're taking that for granted. You value your years of friendship with Anna over school, which is what's going to get you a job and money."

"You said connections get me a job, and Anna has plenty of them."

"You can't expect to drop everything and run to Anna every time she gets hurt."

"She's paralyzed in a fucking hospital bed!"

"I know that!"

"Then why are you jumping all over the place?" Tris yelled. "You have a point. I know you have a point, because you always have a point. Just spit it out already!"

"You're in love with Anna!" Anya shouted. "That's why you want to ditch everything and run to her. You're just a kid, and you don't fucking understand that your love life isn't always going to work out. Stick with school, because that's what's actually going to help you, not some stupid crush."

Tris stared at Anya's profile in complete silence, the two of them breathing heavily from all of their yelling. Tris clenched her jaw as Anya pulled into the driveway of their parents' house, the former wasting no time in unbuckling her belt and grabbing her bag. "Fuck you, Anya. That was a low blow."

Tris practically kicked the door open and slammed it as hard as she could, running into the house with anger. Anya sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her head against the steering wheel. "What the fuck did I just do?"

**

"Fuck Bellamy and his smug attitude," Raven grumbled, taking a sip of her morning coffee as she waited for Clarke to plate the french toast she'd cooked. 

"If you hate losing to Bellamy so much, then you probably shouldn't compete against him, or make any bets," Clarke said, obviously still a little annoyed that her friends bet whether she would sleep with Lexa or not. "Did you go out drinking last night?"

"No, that's tonight, and Bell probably invited half the people in his department to the Dropship. That tab is going to be at least a grand."

"Sucks for you," Clarke commented, handing Raven her breakfast.

"Thanks, Griff. That really brings sunshine and rainbows to my crappy mood."

"Hey, you have to learn your lesson somehow, so I'm more than happy you lost this bet," Clarke told her. "Aden, O! Breakfast!"

Octavia walked into the kitchen with her tablet open to the published results on a recent clinical trial from the New England Journal of Medicine. "Are you and Aden going out to play racquetball today?" 

"Yep," Aden answered as walked in, giving his mom and aunts good morning kisses. "And I'm going to win this time."

"Yeah, good luck with that, kid," Raven snorted. 

"You guys seriously have no faith in me," Aden said, taking his plate and sitting that the kitchen island across from his aunts and next to his mom. 

"We do, but Clarke is a beast when it comes to racquetball, and you're going to need more than two Saturdays to understand how good she is," Raven told him. "In fact, she's probably just going easy on you."

Aden scoffed. "No, she isn't. Right, mom?"

Clarke took a sip out of her orange juice to avoid answering the question, and Aden's jaw dropped. "Mom! Seriously?"

"It's a parenting thing, sweetie," Clarke told him. "I played tennis up until I was pregnant with you, and then when I met your aunts, we would play racquetball every week in college and during med school to get rid of all the stress."

"Which translates to she's going easy on you because you suck," Raven continued. 

"This is stupid," Aden grumbled, digging into his french toast and slipping into his own little corner to sulk.

"You'll get better, A," Clarke told him, rubbing his back and injured ego.

"Yeah, I mean, it might be another thirty years, but you'll catch up," Octavia said.

 

Clarke sent her a glare. "Thanks. You're great for comfort."

 

"I know, right?" Octavia said mockingly.

 

"Whatever, I'm not that mad. My ego took a hit, sure, but I'm good," Aden said, turning to Clarke. "Can you not hold back this time?"

 

"Sweetie, do you really want me to do that?" Clarke asked, acknowledging the fact that she could crush him easily.

 

"Well, can you make it at least seem like you're trying?" 

 

"That I can do," Clarke said, checking the time. "Guys, you're going to be late if you don't leave."

 

"Ugh, that's another minute closer to losing a grand," Raven groaned. 

 

"You snooze, you lose, Reyes," Octavia told her, taking her dish to the sink before grabbing her bag and jacket. "Come on, loser. Let's go!"

 

"Last time I'm betting against your brother," Raven muttered, putting her dish and coffee mug in the sink, then grabbed her stuff and followed Octavia out the door.

 

"So," Aden began as Clarke moved to wash the dishes. "How much do you hold back?"

 

**

 

"Hey, Lincoln, do you have a pen I can borrow?" Raven asked, looking through her pockets for a pen she swore she had earlier. When she received no reply, Raven looked up, only to see that Lincoln was out of it as he stared at Octavia on the other end of the ER with a patient. She looked back at Lincoln and snapped her fingers in front of his face, startling him a bit. "Hello?"

 

"Sorry, did you need something?" Lincoln asked, suddenly seeming to realize that he was at work.

 

"Well, I need a pen, but you look like you need a drink," Raven told him, taking the pen that Lincoln held out for her. "Thanks."

 

"No problem, but I don't need a drink," he told her, taking another pen out of his pocket to use. 

 

"Yeah, you do," Raven told him, signing a few forms. "Look, just come to The Dropship tonight after work. I'll buy you a beer and we can talk if you want."

 

"Raven, I can buy my own beer."

 

"Yeah, but I'm pretty that Bell's going to tell you to come with tonight," Raven said. "I lost a stupid bet against him, so I'm paying his tab tonight."

 

"Ouch. What did you guys bet on?" 

 

Raven cleared her throat as she looked around, making sure that no one was within earshot. When it was all clear, she leaned closer and whispered, "Clarke and your cousin."

 

"What does Anna have to do with Clarke? Did you bet on whether she was going to live or not?" Lincoln asked, feeling his anger rise a little.

 

"Your other cousin, you idiot," Raven said. "And it's disgusting to bet on someone's life. That's a line I don't cross."

 

"Lexa? What about Lexa and Clarke?"

 

"Lexa was freaked when she got here, so she stayed over at our place for a couple of days when Clarke offered," Raven told him. "She won't get in a car, so she rode with Clarke on her motorcycle."

 

"What?" Lincoln said, furrowing his brow in confusion. "What do you mean she won't get in a car?"

 

Raven shrugged her shoulders. "Clarke told me that Lexa watched her parents' car get t-boned ten feet away from her, and she's freaked. Clarke has been driving her to and from the hospital, and I think she took her to Lexa's office yesterday, too."

 

"Why am I the last person to know about this?"

 

Yikes. "Look, Lincoln, I'm not trying to cause any problems here, but you might want to talk to Lexa about this," Raven suggested. "And if you could keep my name out of this, it would be much appreciated."

 

"Yeah, thanks, Reyes," he told her, taking his papers and disappearing down the hall.

 

Raven shrugged her shoulders and went back to signing forms when Octavia came over to the counter, giving one of the nurses a set of instructions before tapping her fingers against the counter. Raven knew what Octavia was doing, and she kept her head down, trying to ignore the sound, but it became far too annoying. "Stop that."

 

"Hm?" Octavia said, looking down when Raven pointed to her fingers with the pen, stopping immediately. "Oh, sorry."

 

"Yeah, nice try, but stop beating around the bush," Raven told her. "That's one of the many traits I hate about Minnesotans. That, and the way they say bag."

 

Octavia gave Raven a mock smile, flipping her off inconspicuously. "I'm from Detroit."

 

"I know, but you've lived in Minnesota since you were thirteen, so it counts."

 

"Go away, Reyes."

 

"I was here first."

 

"My God, you are such a child."

 

"O, what do you want?" 

 

"Nothing," Octavia said, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. "Just wondering what you and Lincoln were talking about."

 

"Oh no, I'm not getting in the middle of this," Raven said, shutting her folder firmly as if to prove her point. "You want to know what I talked about with Lincoln? Then go ask him."

 

"Raven," Octavia sighed. "Come on. Help a girl out."

 

"I am," she said. "Go talk to him."

 

"You're my best friend. What happened to chicks before dicks?"

 

"Still applicable, which is why this chick is helping you out," Raven said. "Go. Talk. To. Him. He's like a kicked puppy. He wants some love and attention."

 

"Is he coming to The Dropship tonight?" Octavia asked, trying again. 

 

Raven merely shrugged. "Dunno. Go ask your man. Talk. It's one of the many reasons you have a mouth. I've got a consult, so I'll see you at home, if not at the bar."

 

Octavia glared at Raven's retreating figure in annoyance. Relationships suck.

 

**

 

"That's it, I'm done," Aden huffed, signaling for a timeout as he staggered over to their bags, collapsing right next to his. He pulled out his water bottle and began chugging it, feeling like he had just been tortured. 

 

"What happened to your attitude from this morning?" Clarke mocked, joining her son after grabbing her own water bottle.

 

"What happened to holding back?" Aden threw back, panting heavily as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I feel like I'm being punished. Jesus, mom."

 

"I thought you didn't want me to hold back."

 

"I didn't want you to wear me out either. My muscles are going to hurt like a bitch tomorrow."

 

"Language."

 

"Mom, I turn eighteen in a few days."

 

"Ugh, don't remind me. I'm getting old."

 

"You haven't hit thirty-five. You're not even middle-aged."

 

"I feel like it," Clarke mumbled, taking a sip of her water. 

 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to their pants and the sounds of sneakers echoing down the hall from the gym.

 

"Mom, when was the last time you had sex?"

 

Clarke choked on the water she was drinking, coughing violently as she spat it out on the floor next to her, Aden patting her back as she recovered. She wiped her face with her towel and looked at her son with an incredulous look on her face. "Where the hell did that come from?"

 

Aden shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just curious."

 

"Last time I checked, teenagers wanted nothing to do with their parents' sex lives. You were covering your ears when O and Raven were talking about my hot bod."

 

Aden cringed at her words. "Please, never say those words again. Ever."

 

"What?" Clarke asked, eyes twinkling with humor. "Hot bod?"

 

"Mom, no."

 

"Hot bod, hot bod, hot bod, hot bo—"

 

"Okay, okay, I get it!"

 

Clarke laughed at her son's unamusement. 

 

"You're so mean to me."

 

"That's called embarrassment. It's a sign of good parenting," she told him. "Not that I'm comfortable discussing this with you, but why are you asking about my sex life?"

 

"I'm just wondering whether you have a life outside of me and your job," Aden said, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, you were pregnant with me when you were barely halfway through puberty. You were doing double enrollment in high school, then finished your bachelor and went through med school all while raising me. Now that I'm going to college next year and doing my own thing, I'm just afraid that you're going to throw yourself into work and not have a life outside of it. You're young, mom. You need to go on a date."

 

"This is honest to God the weirdest conversation I've ever had in my life," Clarke said with a giggle.

 

Aden rolled his eyes at Clarke. "Mom, I'm being serious here."

 

"I know you are, sweetie," Clarke said, laying her head on Aden's shoulder. 

 

"You deserve to have a love life, mom," Aden told her. "You're a super mom, and you'd be a super wife."

 

"Well, you're a super son," Clarke told him, smiling as she gave Aden a side hug. 

 

"I'll be your wingman. I think that lady at the check in counter upstairs was checking you out."

 

"I don't need a wingman, A."

 

"Too late."

 

Before she could stop him, Aden grabbed his bag and racket, running out of the court to no doubt go talk up his mom to the mystery woman upstairs. Clarke cursed under her breath and grabbed her stuff before running out after her son, seeing him bolt up the stairs at the other end of the hall. Clarke ran after him, and by the time she got to the counter, Aden was already talking to the lady at the counter. 

 

"Oh, hey, mom," Aden said, grinning widely as his mother approached him, earning himself a look that said that he was in big trouble later on. "I was just talking to Niylah here. Did you know she played tennis like you, too?"

 

"You play tennis?" Niylah asked Clarke. 

 

Clarke groaned internally. She was sure that Niylah was a good person, but she really didn't want to chat to anybody at the moment. "Yeah, I used to. I mainly just stick to racquetball now."

 

"Maybe you guys should play against each other," Aden suggested, earning himself a side glare from Clarke. "I mean, I basically got creamed by her today, so you might enjoy a little friendly competition."

 

"Yeah, if you're up for it?" Niylah asked, leaving Clarke with no choice but to say yes.

 

"Sure. I usually only come here on Saturdays for racquetball, and I'm here early in the mornings. Like, _really_ early."

 

"I've been thinking about switching shifts, anyway. Does seven work for you?"

 

Shit. Now, there was no way she could get out of this. "Sure."

 

"Great!" Aden said, clapping his hands. "I've always been meaning to go to that jujitsu class you have in the morning. Now you have a racquetball buddy _and_ I get to try jujitsu. Thanks, Niylah!"

 

"No problem," she said, directing her smile at Clarke, who smiled back to be polite. 

 

"We've got to get going but, I'll see you next week," Clarke said, pushing Aden towards the door.

 

"Oh, just let me write down my number," Niylah said, and Clarke had to stop and wait for her to write it down. She took the paper and waved at Niylah, dragging Aden out the door with her.

 

"Bye, Niylah!" Aden yelled, waving at her as he exited the building, barely catching her wave back.

 

"You have no idea how annoyed I am at you right now," Clarke told him as they walked towards Aden's car. 

 

"You love me, and I can't believe I'm saying this to my mother, but you need to get laid."

 

"Why can't you be one of those kids who avoids the topic of sex with their parents?"

 

"Because I'm going to use it to my advantage now that I know it annoys you."

 

"I've taught you well."

 

"Hey, I only learn from the best."


	10. Chapter 10

"And I ate octopus, which was really bizarre," Lexa recounted to her sister, recalling her lunch with Clarke yesterday.

 

"Ew, that sounds disgusting," Anna said, scrunching her nose in distaste.

 

"It actually wasn't that bad. I mean, the texture was weird, but it tasted good," Lexa told her, just as Lincoln knocked on the door.

 

Anna and Lexa both turned and smiled at their cousin. 

 

"Hey, Linc," Anna greeted, waving her hand at him. Now that it was a few days after the surgery, the external extent of Anna's injuries could be seen. There were various cuts along her body, and she had managed to sprain her wrist, though that was an injury that would heal within weeks.

 

"Hey, Anna. How're you feeling today?" Lincoln asked her, moving to stand at the foot of her bed. 

 

"Well, the drugs are still making my body feel weird and I feel a little hazy, but I'm good."

 

"That's good," Lincoln said with a smile. "Do you need for me to get you anything?"

 

"Maybe some more of that pudding from a few days ago," she said.

 

"I'll see what I can do," Lincoln told her, sending a wink her way before turning to Lexa. "Hey, Lex. Can I borrow you for a couple of minutes? I just need you to sign off on some stuff."

 

"Yeah, sure," Lexa said, kissing Anna's forehead before she followed Lincoln out of the room. Instead of going to the nurse's station like she had expected, Lincoln led her to a supply closet at the end of the hall, making sure no one was around as he pushed Lexa in and closed the door behind them. "Um, last time I checked, this isn't where people go to sign forms."

"There are no forms for you to sign," he said, crossing his arms as he stared at his cousin. "Why didn't you tell me that you're not getting into cars?"

"Because I was too busy looking after Anna, and it's not like it's a big deal."

 

"Not a big deal? Lexa, you just experienced something extremely traumatic, and that could have an impact on you for the rest of your life. You're not even getting into cars now, so how the hell do expect to get to work or drive Anna around? Are you going to depend on Clarke for rides from now on?"

 

Lexa narrowed her eyes at Lincoln. "Okay, first of all, she offered, and I tried to refuse, but she wouldn't let me. Second of all, it was for only a couple of days, and she was working, anyway. Third, I'm not expecting to be driving Anna out anytime soon. She was in a car accident, in case you haven't noticed."

 

"And what about your job? Anya told me you have to be in court the Wednesday after next. Clarke has a forty-eight hour shift then. You're not going to seriously be expecting her to take a break and drive you to the courthouse, are you?"

 

"Why the fuck are you being such an asshole right now? I'm not going to ask Clarke to do anything for me. There's a thing called the bus around here. I'll be taking that to court. Or I might just bike there. It's only a ten minute bike ride from my parents' house, anyway."

 

"You're going to ride a bike in the middle of December?"

 

"Yes, and I'm taking a class to get my motorcycle license. I talked to some people, and as long as I show them the certificate from that class, they'll waive a test for me and give me my permit. I'll be driving a motorcycle in a month and getting my license in three. Less than that, in fact."

 

"You're already working from seven to five, sometimes six and even longer. Best case scenario, you're riding the bus for a month, maybe a month and a half. A bus ride is going to add another hour or two of transportation, and you need at least six or seven hours of sleep. When the hell are you going to be taking care of Anna? Is she really worth less than four hours of attention?"

 

"No, she isn't, and I've already started handing most of my cases over to other people. Anya gets what I need to do, and she's willing to let me work half-days for a month," Lexa said, feeling her anger bubble. "You don't need to be such a dick about this, Lincoln. I get that taking care of someone else requires a lot of commitment, and I'm making the effort to make Anna my top priority."

 

"If you're making the effort to do all of that, then you should also be making the effort to go see a counselor, Lexa," Lincoln said. "I'm worried about you."

 

"Yeah, well, you have a funny way of showing it," she spat. "You don't get to drag me in here and yell at me and call it concern. There's something called having a civil conversation with someone. I don't need to be judged, especially not right now. I'm really pissed that you of all people pulled this, so kindly fuck off and stay the hell away from me for the next few days so that I'm not tempted to punch you if I see you."

 

Lexa pushed past Lincoln and exited the supply closet, running into Raven as she turned the corner. 

 

"Whoa, you okay?" Raven asked, taking in Lexa's fuming expression. "Sorry about bumping into you."

 

"It's fine. I'm just in a really shitty mood right now."

 

"Do you want to come over to drink at The Dropship tonight? I'm going to be there, probably with Lincoln and O and a couple of other doctors."

 

At the mention of her cousin, Lexa automatically knew what her answer was going to be. "No, thanks. I'll have to pass."

 

"You sure?"

 

"Yeah, I'd rather stay with Anna. She's probably bored out of her mind, and I want to keep her company."

 

"Okay, fair enough," Raven said. "If you need anything, just have a nurse page me. I'll be working until around seven or so."

 

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

 

"Yep, anytime," Raven said with a smile. "I've got to get back to work, but I'll see you around."

 

With that, they separated and headed off into different directions. Lexa had schooled her features and pushed her anger aside, and when she returned to Anna's room, she found Tris by her side laughing about something Anna had mentioned. 

 

"Hey, Tris," Lexa greeted. 

 

Tris and Anna both turned to the door, the former sending a wave to Lexa. "Hey, Lexa."

 

"Did you just get here?" Lexa asked, moving to grave her laptop and charger. 

 

"Yeah, my mom drove me here. She actually just went to the bathroom, but she wanted to talk to you for a bit," Tris told her. 

 

"Is she in the one down the hall?"

 

"Yeah, I think so," Tris said. 

 

"In that case, I think I'll just get out of your hair and meet her there," Lexa said. "If you need anything, just call me, okay?" 

 

"Okay, Lex," Anna said with a roll of her eyes. "Out! We have important stuff to talk about."

 

"Okay, bossy,"  Lexa muttered, sending a wave over her shoulder as she exited the room. 

 

Anna and Tris turned from the door way and looked at each other. "I'm surprised Anya didn't drive you here."

 

Tris' expression changed, and Anna could tell that it was a touchy subject. "Anya and I got into a fight. That's why I didn't ask her for a ride."

 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Anna asked her, to which tris shook her head. 

 

"Not really," Tris said, just as her phone chimed with a text. 

 

"Who's that?" Anna asked. 

 

"Aden. You know, Doctor Griffin's son?" Tris said, firing a quick text back. 

 

"The guy who drove you here, right?"

 

"Yeah, him. He asked if you were cool with him and Charlotte coming over to play card games. I guess they want to get to know you."

 

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm surprised that Doctor Griffin has a son as old as us. She doesn't look that old," Anna noted. 

 

"That's because she isn't. She's barely out of her twenties," Tris said, nodding her head when she saw Anna's shocked expression. "I know, right? I was surprised, too, when I first met her. She had Aden when she'd barely started high school. She doesn't like to talk about it, though, and he doesn't talk about it out of respect for his mom."

 

"She doesn't regret having him or anything like that, right?"

 

"No, no, nothing like that. Aden says that she just doesn't want him to be outcasted just because she was a teen mom, on top of the fact that his parents weren't married and he never really knew who his dad was," Tris said. "I mean, not a lot of people know she has a kid, and Doctor Griffin tries to not be so involved in Aden's life at school. I mean, she comes to his award ceremonies and his plays, but nothing other than that, really. I think she just wants to make his life easier, but Aden doesn't care about what other people think. Never has, never will."

 

"That sucks. I get her whole reasoning behind it, but it still sucks," Anna said. "And what about the other girl, Charlotte?"

 

Tris snorted. "She ate your quinoa salad when I went to your house yesterday."

 

"Does it at least still taste good?" Anna asked. "I mean, I made it Sunday, so it probably wouldn't be as fresh as it was when I made it."

 

"The girl is like a vacuum cleaner when it comes to good food," Tris told her. "She was actually really impressed, even if she didn't seem like it. Charlotte is a phenomenal chef, and she's been recognized at a national level, so she knows what she's talking about."

 

"Is she already working?"

 

"Yeah, but she's going to culinary school after she graduates. Honestly, I think it's a waste of her time. She could probably just open up her own restaurant and become a success if she had the capital instead of going to culinary school."

 

Anna hummed at the words, already working out the details in her head. "Do you think I could try some of her cooking sometime?"

 

"Yeah. Actually, Aden's birthday is on Wednesday, and we made plans to have dinner at his house with his mom and his aunts, so I'll just ask her to bring us whatever leftovers she has on her way home."

 

"You're not going?" Anna asked.

 

"No, I'll just hang out with you," Tris said, to which Anna gave her a look. "What?"

 

"It's Aden's birthday. You can't just bail on him," Anna said. "Go celebrate."

 

"I'm not leaving you here alone," Tris said.

 

"I'm not going to be alone. Lexa's watching me like a hawk, and it's getting a little annoying, to be honest," Anna said. "Go have fun. You can just come swing by after for a couple of minutes."

 

"Are you sure?" Tris asked.

 

Anna rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. Go have fun with Aden and the rest of them. Bring me some of Charlotte's cooking, though. I want to see what all the hype is about."

 

**

 

"Lexa, sweetie, I know you must be having a hard time dealing with the passing of your parents, but if you want us to help in any way, we can," Mrs. Stone, Anya and Tris' mother said to her as they sat in a corner of the cafeteria, cups of coffee in front of them.

 

Lexa forced a smile at the woman she called a second mother. "Thank you. I appreciate that, but I can handle it. Anya read my parents' will to me, and I've already sent their bodies to funeral home. I don't want to bury them without Anna present, so I've scheduled the funeral to be the weekend after next."

 

"Honey, that's the weekend of Christmas Eve and day," Mrs. Stone said. 

 

"I know, which is why I'm not going to invite anybody. It's really not fair for me to spoil everyone else's joy, so Anna and I just decided that it would be best if it was only the two of us," Lexa said. "I would push it back further, but the funeral home refused, so that's that."

 

"And you're delivering an official press statement?" Mrs. Stone asked.

 

"Yes. I was able to get permission to use one of the hospital meeting rooms, and we'll have a camera crew record me and upload the video to the internet. I really don't want any news outlets to make money over this, so we're just going to use the company's social media."

 

Mrs. Stone placed her hand over Lexa's in a comforting manner. For a woman whose parents had died in front of her, she was keeping a stoic expression and bottling up her emotions. "You and Anna are more than welcome to spend Christmas with us this year."

 

"Thank you," Lexa whispered, lowering her gaze to stare at the coffee inside the styrofoam cup.

 

Mrs. Stone's phone chimed with a notification, and she checked it to see that it was a text from her husband. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but I've got to go help Brad out. He's on business three hours away, and his car just broke down, so I have to go pick him up."

 

Lexa looked back up at Mrs. Stone and once again forced a smile. "Not a problem. I hope you two get home safe."

 

Mrs. Stone knew that Lexa mean those words sincerely, so she pulled Lexa in for a long hug before she left, with the promise that Lexa would relay the information to Tris. After Mrs. Stone left, Lexa picked up her laptop, charger, and the cup of coffee, throwing the latter into the trash on her way out of the cafeteria. After that uncomfortable conversation, Lexa knew that there was no way she'd be able to focus on work, so she made her way back to her sister's room. To her surprise, this time, Tris and Anna were joined by Aden and Charlotte.

 

"Well, this quickly turned into a party," Lexa nodded, smiling when all four turned to look at her. 

 

"Hey, Lexa," Aden greeted, waving from his seat. 

 

"Hey," Lexa said. "Not that I mind that you're here, but why are you here?"

 

"Charlotte was bored, and so was I, and we were going to play card games with my mom, but the hospital paged her right as we started our first game of cribbage," Aden said. "She got all excited because apparently, some guy has a bullet in his forehead and he's moving around like it's nothing."

 

Lexa's eyes widened as she put her laptop down by her overnight bag. "What?"

 

"I know, right? Mom was so excited when she heard about it, so I texted Tris and told her we were coming over," he said. "I think she's looking at scans or something down the hall."

 

"Isn't she working? I don't want to bother her."

 

"You won't. She's a surgery junkie, so looking at the scans is like pre-gaming for her. I mean, I've visited her a couple of times when she's like this, and she doesn't mind. It's the room right across from the supply closet," he told her.

 

"And if you want to join us playing cribbage, that's fine, too," Anna added.

 

Lexa scrunched her nose at the thought of playing the game. "No, thanks. I suck at cribbage. I'm going to grab some lunch from down the road, though, so do you guys want anything?"

 

"Fried chicken?" Anna asked in a hopeful tone.

 

"No. You know how much fast food disgusts me."

 

"Please?" Anna asked, pouting her lips.

 

Lexa sighed and gave in. "Fine, but if a nurse catches you, that's on you."

 

"Yes!" Anna cheered. "You're the best, Lex."

 

"Yeah, yeah. The rest of you guys want anything?"

 

"Well, since you're offering," Charlotte began, clearing her throat. "I want that BLT that The Dropship makes."

 

"How would you know that The Dropship makes BLTs? You're not even legal enough to go inside."

 

"I know a guy," Charlotte said with a wink.

 

"Right," Lexa drawled. "Aden?"

 

"Anything's fine with me. A BLT works, but whatever's convenient for you," he said.

 

"Okay. And Tris?" 

 

"Fried chicken," Tris told her while simultaneously high-fiving Anna.

 

"Your eating habits disgust me."

 

"Hey, you're the one who's running four miles every morning. No one is forcing you to do that. The rest of like to enjoy the wild life."

 

"Yep, you two are real wild," Lexa said with a roll of her eyes. "Oh, I almost forgot. Your mom had to leave because your dad's car broke down. She said that she'll come pick you up around six, though."

 

"Okay, thanks," Tris said. 

 

"Yep. I'm leaving, so just call or text if you need anything else," Lexa said, and with that, she left the room. Lexa was going to get the food and drop it off to the teens, but then decided that she should visit Clarke first and see if she wanted lunch herself. So, she went back to where she remembered the supply closet to be earlier, and lo and behold, she found the room across it open, with Clarke in front of what looked to be the scans of someone's brain.

 

Lexa knocked on the door, and Clarke turned to her, smiling when she saw that it was Lexa. 

 

"Hey, Lexa."

 

"Hi," she said. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

 

"No, you're good. I'm just looking at some interesting scans," she said, turning off the lights behind the scans. "Come in."

 

"Aden told me you've got a guy with a bullet in his head walking and talking," Lexa said as she walked inside.

 

"Yep. I'm so fucking excited, and I haven't even met the guy. Raven told me he walked into the emergency room like nothing was wrong and then he takes off his bandana, and there the bullet was," Clarke told her, giddy by the huge grin on her face. "Sorry, you must think that I'm a huge weirdo or something right now."

 

"No, it's fine," Lexa said with a little laugh. "I get the same kind of excitement over cases, too. It's like a high, I get it."

 

"Yeah," Clarke agreed. "So, what brings you over to my corner of the hospital?"

 

"Well, the kids are all hanging out with my sister. Aden, Tris, and Charlotte, I mean. I was going to grab some lunch for them and myself, and I thought I'd stop by and ask you," Lexa said.

 

"Oh, thanks, but you didn't have to do that," Clarke told her.

 

"I wanted to, especially after you helped me out these past few days," Lexa said. "I'm getting some sandwiches from the Dropship and fried chicken from the Popeyes next door. Do you want anything?"

 

"Are you planning on walking there?" 

 

"Yeah, and it's not really a big deal. The weather is nice for December, and it's a couple of blocks," Lexa said. "So, what would you like?"

 

"I'll just take whatever Aden's having, I guess. Thanks for that, by the way. You didn't have to get him anything."

 

"Don't worry about it," Lexa said, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "Am I going to find you here, or are you going to be in surgery in half an hour?"

 

"I'm going down to take a look at this guy myself, so you know what?" Clarke pulled out her phone and opened the messenger app, then handed the phone over to Lexa. "Just send yourself a text, and when you're back here, I'll let you know where I am."

 

Lexa took her hands out of her pockets and did as she was told, sending herself a smiley face before handing the phone back to Clarke. "Awesome. I'll see you in a bit, and if you change your mind about what you want, just text me."

 

"Yep, thanks," Clarke said with a smile, and she watched Lexa leave the room. Clarke turned around and took down the scans, taking them with her as she walked down the hall, only to bump into Nathan Miller, another neurosurgeon that worked in her department. 

 

"Clarke, just the girl I was looking for," Miller said, following the blonde to the elevator. 

 

"The answer is no, Miller," Clarke told him, already aware that he'd try and steal the bullet patient out from under her. 

 

"You owe me, Griffin," Miller reminded her, a victorious grin on his face.

 

Clarke side-eyed Miller and gave in, handing him the scans. "I really hate you right now."

 

"You're the best," Miller told her, slipping into the elevator, much to the annoyance of the blonde doctor. Clarke huffed and pulled out her phone, firing a quick text to Lexa to see if she'd left the building. Since she really only came in for that case, Clarke had nothing else to do since it was her day off. Aden had already found other people his age to hang out with, and her friends were all working that day. 

 

 

 

[Lexa]:   No, I'm still in the lobby.

 

 

 

Clarke silently cheered as she sent her a reply. 

 

 

 

[Clarke]: Awesome! I had my bullet   
             guy stolen from right under me,  
             so I can keep you company while  
             we order lunch, if you want.

 

[Lexa]:   Works for me

 

[Clarke]: I'll be down in five minutes

 

 

 

Within five minutes, Clarke was already leading Lexa out of the building and they opted to stick to the sidewalk since they were going to be carrying food for six people, and a motorcycle did not fare well with food orders. 

 

"So, what happened to the bullet dude?"

 

"I owed a colleague of mine a favor, and I had to give up the case, so that's where he went," Clarke explained. 

 

"Aw, that sucks. Sorry about that."

 

"It's fine. I mean, I'm a little annoyed, but it's cool. How's it going with Anna?"

 

"It's going good, though, she's kind of annoyed that she's stuck in a hospital all day, and I don't really think I'm helping much by hovering," Lexa said with a little laugh. "I think it made her happy to have a few people hang out with her today."

 

"That's good. I have a lot of patients who get tired of being in hospitals all day, so it's good that she's got people to spend time with her," Clarke said. 

 

"How are you and Aden doing? I talked to Octavia earlier and she mentioned that his birthday is coming up this week. Eighteen, right?"

 

"Yeah, on Wednesday," Clarke confirmed. "God, I feel so fucking old."

 

"You're not, though," Lexa pointed out, waiting at a crosswalk for the signal to cross. "You're thirty-two. Most people would have kids less than seven years old running around, and you've got a kid who's about to go to college next year."

 

"I know I'm not old, but I guess it's just a feeling you get when you see your kid all grown up and doing his own thing," Clarke said. "Would you believe me if I told you he asked me this morning when the last time I had sex was?"

 

Lexa's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

 

"I know, right? He's about to go off to college and all he can think about is whether I'm going to be lonely in life or not. He tried setting me up at with one of the people who works the front desk at the rec center."

 

When the walking man gave them the okay, they began crossing the street, headed for Popeye's. 

 

"You raised a good one, Clarke."

 

Clarke smiled softly as she turned to look at Lexa. "Yeah? You think so?"

 

"I do," Lexa told her sincerely. "Even though you raised him as a single parent, a teenager, nonetheless, you raised him right, and that's not something a lot of people can say about their kids. You did good, Clarke."

 

Clarke and Lexa stopped as soon as they got to the other side, just outside of Popeye's. It really felt good to hear that from someone else, because Clarke knew that all of her insecurities made her doubt herself, and here was someone else who told her that Clarke did a good job, despite the number of mistakes that she may have made in her life. "Thank you. Really. You have no idea how much it means to me for you to say that."

 

Lexa smiled at Clarke, watching as the blonde did the same. She felt her heart beat just a little bit faster, but Lexa shook it off. "Anytime. So, since you're technically off duty, you won't snitch if I give my sister some fried chicken, right?"

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you have it. Some more Clexa interaction, even though it was brief. 
> 
> Not sure when the next chapter is going to be updated, but we'll see Raven talking to a sad Lincoln in the bar. 
> 
> For those of you waiting on Like A Fool, I'm halfway done with the next chapter, and I won't be posting it until the first weekend of February, so stay tuned!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so sorry for taking so long to update, but I promise I haven't given up on this story. I've been thrown into the new semester, and I've got quite a few things on my plate, so that's why updates may take longer than they used to take. This chapter is kind of short, but I'll work on making the next update longer. 
> 
> Enjoy!

"Goddamn, he's going to break my bank account tonight," Raven muttered, watching as more people walked into the bar and greeted Bellamy with cheer. Raven sighed and shook her head, deciding that it would be better for herself if she just just avoided looking at the door. She signaled the bartender for another beer as Lincoln sat down next to her. "Hey."

 

"Hey. How was your day?"

 

"Pretty good from when we separated, though I'm assuming you spoke to Lexa," she said, passing the beer from the bartender to him.

 

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

 

"She had a look on her face that said she was ready to punch someone when I bumped into her in the hallway.

 

"Ah," Lincoln said, nodding his head as he took a quick skip of the beer. "Yeah, that didn't go as well as I'd hoped."

 

"Look, Lincoln, I know you're trying to help her, but just give her some space. I mean, it's only been a few days. Don't push her into going into therapy so soon. She needs time to mourn," Raven told him. "Eventually, she'll open up and you can suggest some help."

 

"I'm just worried about her," Lincoln said with a sigh. 

 

Raven game him a small smile. "I know, but shoving this down her throat right now is going to make her irritable. She needs family right now, not a therapist."

 

"Yeah," Lincoln agreed, putting his beer down and standing up from the bar stool. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

 

"Okay," Raven said, watching as he disappeared into an alcove. 

 

Octavia entered the bar, and upon spotting Raven's back, she immediately made a bee-line towards her best friend, occupying Lincoln's barstool. "Hey, Rae."

 

"Hey. Uh, that's Lincoln's spot," Raven told her. 

 

"I know. I saw him walk in," she said. "I need to talk to him."

 

Raven raised a brow. "You want to talk to him in a bar?"

 

"I know it's not ideal, but I just want to talk as soon as possible," Octavia told her.

 

"Okay, knock yourself out," Raven said, standing up to give Octavia her seat. "If you need me, I'm going to go cry at the tab I have to cover."

 

"Thanks, Rae," Octavia said with a smile, watching as the brunette moved to the other end of the bar. Octavia spun to face the bar and flagged the bartender down for a glass of water. 

 

Lincoln wiped his hands on his jeans and slowed as he walked back to his seat, furrowing his brows when he saw Octavia sitting in Raven's seat. He eventually walked over and reclaimed his seat, avoiding Octavia's eyes. "Hey."

 

"Hi," she said, playing with the glass of water in her hands. "How are you?"

 

Lincoln scoffed and shook his head as he took a sip of his beer. "Are you really going to ask me that?" 

 

Octavia sighed and a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry. I suck at doing this."

 

"Why are you here, O? You made it clear you didn't want to spend the rest of your life with me."

 

Octavia sighed and visibly swallowed. "Look, Lincoln. I know that it was pretty shitty of me to go off on you like that, especially when you did nothing wrong."

 

Lincoln finally managed to turn and look at Octavia. "Okay, and where does that leave us? If you don't want to marry me, is there really a point in us being together?" 

 

Wow, that stung. "I know I have a lot of issues with my insecurities, but it doesn't mean that I don't love you, Linc. I do, but I need to work through them, and I'd really want for you to be by my side. I don't want to dive headfirst into a marriage when we barely know anything about each other. We've been together only three months."

 

Lincoln stared at Octavia, trying to decide what he should do or say. "Is there a chance that you're ever going to marry me?" 

 

He said it so quietly that Octavia almost missed his question. Octavia smiled softly and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, but I'm willing to try."

 

Lincoln nods his head and swallows visibly, turning back to face his drink. Octavia's heart sank momentarily, but she saw Lincoln chug down the rest of his beer and throw a few bills before standing up to put on his jacket. Octavia thought that he was going to leave, but Lincoln merely quirked a brow at her. "You coming? I was going to get Chinese."

 

Octavia would be lying if she said she wasn't smiling, and she stood up, shrugging on her jacket and shyly took Lincoln's hand as they made their way out of the bar. Octavia waved to Raven on her way out the door, and her friend gave her a thumbs up as she watched the younger Blake leave. 

 

Raven turned her attention back to the bartender and furrowed her brows. "What do you mean the tab has already been paid? I'm the one who's supposed to be paying for it."

 

Gus merely shrugged his shoulders. "Bellamy gave me his credit card when he walked in and bought maybe twenty or twenty-five different bottles and a couple of cases of beer."

 

"And what was the total?" Raven asked. 

 

"Somewhere around fifteen hundred or two grand."

 

"Jesus," Raven breathed. She looked to where Bellamy was standing, clearly drunk as he was talking to some of their colleagues. Raven shook her head and turned back to Gus. "Okay, thanks, Gus. But if he ever tries something like this again, let me know, okay?" 

 

"Sure," Gus said, and with that, Raven left the bar to walk over to Bellamy, smiling apologetically at their colleagues before pulling him away. 

 

"Hey, Rae," Bellamy said with a drunken smile on his face. 

 

"You cleared the fucking tab. All two grand of it," Raven said to him. 

 

"Yep."

 

"That was my tab to pay, Bell. You won the bet fair and square. Why'd you clear it?"

 

Bellamy shrugged. "I never planned on making you pay the tab in the first place, Raven. I just wanted to scare you a little. Of course I was going to pay it."

 

"Bell, you do this kind of stuff all the time, and it's really annoying how nice you are," Raven mumbled. 

 

Bellamy merely smiled at her and finished of the rest of his beer before putting it down on a nearby table. "I'm drunk. Can you drive me home?" 

 

Raven sighed and nodded her head. "Yeah, sure. I haven't even finished half my beer. Did you bring a jacket with you?" 

 

Bellamy shook his head, and with that, Raven led him to her car, and made sure he was all buckled in before driving out of the parking lot. Even though she didn't full drink a bottle of beer, Raven decided to take the residential streets instead of the main road to be safe. 

 

Not long after they left The Dropship, Raven parked her car in Bellamy's driveway, helping him out of the car to the front door. 

 

"Do you want me to help you inside to get to bed or something?" Raven asked as Bellamy pulled out his keys, but he merely washed her off. 

 

"I'm fine. I've got tomorrow off so I can sleep or the hangover. Your should go home, Reyes," he told her, successfully unlocking the door after several failed attempts to get the key into the keyhole. 

 

"You sure?" Raven asked hesitantly. 

 

"Yep. Night, Reyes," Bellamy said as he walked into the house. 

 

"Make sure to drink some water," Raven reminded him as she walked back to her car. She got in her car just as Bellamy shut his front door, then pulled out of his driveway and drove down the street until she pulled into her own driveway. 

 

Raven walked in through the front door and saw the light on in the living room, and when she walked in, she found Clarke seats on the couch with her glasses on and a tablet in her hands, likely reading a medical journal. Raven shrugged off her jacket and plopped herself down on the couch next to Clarke, leaving her head on Clarke's shoulder. 

 

"How was the bar?" Clarke asked, reading the abstract of the article she'd just pulled up. 

 

"Well, I didn't actually end up paying for anything,"Raven said, earning herself a look of confusion from Clarke. 

 

"What?"

 

"Bellamy cleared the tab, and I didn't find out until I went up to Gus at the end of the night to clear it. That douche is too fucking nice sometimes."

 

"Why did he clear your tab?" Clarke asked, locking the tablet and giving her full attention to Raven. 

 

"He said he wasn't going to let me pay it in the first place, that he just wanted to scare me. I mean, I could cover a ten grand tab easy, but it's still a shit ton of money to waste on alcohol," Raven said. "Ugh, goddammit. Now, I feel so guilty that he did that."

 

"You could just get him a present in return, you know," Clarke said.

 

"What am I going to get Bellamy? I don't know how to pick a present for a guy. I barely did it for Finn, other than, like, a watch or clothes or something. A watch is too flashy and clothes are just awkward as a present for Bell."

 

Clarke pursed her lips, then got an idea and unlocked her tablet, going to the internet app. "Well, I think I've got something for you. Bell's a total nerd, right?"

 

"Yeah. What's your point?" Raven asked, shifting so that she was in a more comfortable position. 

 

"Well, I was looking on this website the other day that showed you nearby auctions—"

 

"Why were you on an auction website in the first place?"

 

Clarke looked back at the stairs to make sure that Aden wasn't coming downstairs, then turned back to Raven. "So, you know how Aden's obsessed with military stuff?"

 

"Yeah."

 

Clarke bit her lip and wiggled her brows.

 

"Clarke, what the fuck did you buy him?" Raven asked, moving so that she sat facing Clarke instead of leaning on her shoulder. 

 

"I bought him a an antique civil war rifle, a .58 caliber. He's going to flip," she said.

 

"My God, you have seriously got to be the coolest mom ever. Who the fuck buys their kid a gun?"

 

Clarke rolled her eyes at Raven. "I didn't buy him any bullets. I'm cool, but not crazy."

 

"Well, I'm sure the PTA would disagree, but what's your point with the antique website?"

 

"Right," Clarke said, clicking through the website. "Well, when I was looking for the gun show, I remember seeing an auction for books that's two weeks from tomorrow. They're selling first edition books, so you could probably go and make a bid on something for Bell."

 

Clarke tilted the screen to show Raven, who read the details and sent herself a link to the website. "Alright, thanks, Griff. I'll check it out."

 

"Anytime," Clarke said as Raven stood up and gathered her jacket. "Where's O? Is she at the bar?"

 

"She and Lincoln talked at the bar, and she left with him, so they're even having sex, or talking," Raven said on her way upstairs, passing by Aden as he walked down. "Hey, kid."

 

"Hey, aunt Rae. How was the bar?" Aden asked as he passed by her.

 

"Ugh," Raven sounded with a roll of her eyes, continuing up the stairs. 

 

Aden furrowed his brows and pointed to the staircase as he walked into the living room. "Is she okay?"

 

"She'll be fine," Clarke promised. "What's up, bud?"

 

"So, I was thinking," Aden began. "I wanted to know if it was possible to have my birthday dinner at the hospital next week. In Anna's room."

 

"Why?" Clarke asked, quirking a brow. 

 

Aden shrugged his shoulders. "I've been to the hospital a few times, and it's pretty shitty for patients who stay there all day for a couple of days, and it's especially shitty for her because she can't move half her body. She's a cool chick, and she's Tris' best friend, and I want her to come, but I know that she can't come, and Tris probably won't be able to go since Anna can't, so I just find it easier to have my party there. Is that okay?"

 

"Well, I certainly don't have a problem with it, but what about Charlotte? She's cooking right? Where is she going to cook? I can't let her into the cafeteria kitchen."

 

"Charlotte and have it figured out. She'll just cook the food here and we'll put it in tupperware and take with us to the hospital. It's only a couple of minutes from here, so it'll still be hot by the time we get there," he said, standing on the balls of his feet in anticipation. "So, is that a yes?"

 

Clarke sighed, and Aden immediately pumped his fist in the air. "I'm agreeing to it, but I'm going to have to ask Lexa and Anna. I can't let you do it without getting the okay from them."

 

"Yes, okay, that's totally fine, and I'll completely understand if they don't want to," Aden said, giving his mom a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, mom. I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

 

"Night, baby," Clarke said, smiling at his retreating figure. 

 

**

 

"So, how did the video announcement go?" Clarke asked as she sat across from Lexa in a corner of the cafeteria. 

 

"Well, filming was quick and easy yesterday, but I haven't really bothered to check the news or anything. I'm letting my PR team handle it," Lexa told her, toying with her peas. "People are going to ask questions, and I don't want to answer any at the moment."

 

"That's reasonable," Clarke said, then ran her tongue over her lips before tackling the next subject. "Have you gotten into a car yet?"

 

Lexa shook her head, bringing her gaze down to the table. "To be honest, I don't think I'll ever be able to ride another one again. I might just have to ride motorcycles or the bus for the rest of my life."

 

Clarke smirked. "Isn't it a little ironic that you'll be able to ride a motorcycle, even though the chances of getting injured while riding one are higher than those of cars?"

 

Lexa laughed an nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess it is a little funny," Lexa said, looking up to notice that Clarke was eating her mashed potatoes. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get over it? If you ever did, that is."

 

Clarke nodded her head and swallowed. "It took time, a _lot_ of time, but I did eventually get over it. I had to, little by little." When she saw that Lexa was deeply invested in the conversation, Clarke took a quick sip of her water before continuing. "Actually, I almost didn't let Aden get his learner's permit, since the accident occurred around the time that he was able to get his permit. I was scared. He had to ride the bus for four months and was really pissed at me before Raven talked me into seeing a counselor at the hospital. She said it helped her a lot, so I took her word for it and went to see the counselor. The counselor made me realize that I had to work through my problems, and that I couldn't afford to let the accident take over my entire life."

 

"Did the counselor know about," Lexa paused to lower her voice, "about you and Finn?"

 

"No. I told you, you're the only one who knows besides me. Even my parents never knew that he was the one who knocked me up," Clarke said. "I really do recommend that you go see a counselor or a therapist, Lexa. Raven was lucky that she didn't get paralyzed, but Anna doesn't have that luxury. You need to get work through your fears to be there for your sister."

 

Lexa clenched her jaw. "Did Lincoln put you up to this? I told him that I don't want any fucking therapist."

 

Clarke furrowed her brows. "Lincoln? What, no. I'm saying this because I know the feeling, Lexa. It's just some friendly advice. I'm not trying to force you to do something that you don't want to do. You're Anna's guardian, and even more than that, she's your sister. She's your responsibility now that your parents are gone. You need to be the person that's there for her, and you have to set an example. If you're afraid of cars because you witnessed the accident, imagine how your sister feels. She's the one who actually lived it."

 

Lexa sighed and nodded her head, running her fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry. I've just been kind of on edge lately, and Lincoln and I got into a fight about this very subject, so I thought that he tried to get you to talk to me or something. You were just trying to help, and I'm sorry for lashing out on you."

 

"It's okay," Clarke said softly. "I really do think you should consider going to a counselor or a therapist. You can go to the one at the hospital. It's doctor-patient confidentiality, so as long as you're not endangering yourself or anyone else, anything you say will not leave their office."

 

"I'll think about it," Lexa promised, and Clarke smiled in satisfaction. It wasn't a confirmation that she'd go, but at least Lexa would think about it, and that was a start. 

 

"Good," Clarke said. "Oh, and there's something that I wanted to run by you."

 

 

Lexa looked at her in curiosity. "What?"

 

"So, as you know, Aden is turning eighteen on Wednesday, and the original plan was to have his little party at home with a few people, but," Clarke began, "Aden came up to me two days ago after hanging out with your sister and wanted to know if he could instead have his birthday dinner in Anna's room. He said that he wanted to invite her, but since she couldn't really leave, he wanted to have it there instead. I'm okay with it, but I wanted to run it by you guys first."

 

Lexa was taken aback by Aden's request. "Wow, um, I don't really know what to say."

 

"If you're not okay with it, it's totally fine," Clarke reassured her.

 

"No, it's not that," Lexa said with a smile. "He's so thoughtful. I think Anna would be delighted."

 

"So, that's a yes?" Clarke asked. 

 

"Yeah, I think she'd like it, too. She's been a little antsy from being stuck inside the room all day, so I think this would really brighten up her day."

 

"Awesome," Clarke said with a grin on her face. "I'll let Aden know."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you have noticed that I've taken down chapters two and three of Like A Fool, and that's because I wasn't satisfied with those two chapters. The fanfic was off to a great start, but I felt really disappointed with what followed, so I'll work on improving the next chapter before continuing on. 
> 
> Thank you for sticking with me, and please leave a comment and kudos. 
> 
> Have a lovely day/night :))


	12. Chapter 12

"Alright, one more deep breath in," Clarke instructed Anna, moving her stethoscope around, and when she was satisfied, she removed the instrument and hung it around her neck, moving to type in some notes. "Alright, you can put your sweater back on."

"Everything good?" Lexa asked, and Clarke nodded her head with a smile. 

"She's recovering well," Clarke told her, putting the tablet down to give Anna her pills and a cup of water. "Time for drugs."

"Yay," Anna cheered unenthusiastically, swallowing half the pills down and grimacing before drinking the water. "That was disgusting."

"I know, but you've still got a few more," Clarke said, dumping the rest of the pills in Anna's hands, watching her wash them down with the rest of the water in the cup. "See? You did it."

"I wish I didn't have to," Anna muttered, loud enough for her doctor and sister to hear. Clarke saw Lexa don a guilty expression, and shot her an empathetic look. "I'm getting tired of being in this room."

"I know," Clarke said to Anna. "But, if you're up for it, we can try getting you into a wheelchair today."

Anna lifted her head and raised a brow, and for a moment, Clarke saw a younger version of Lexa. Wow, their resemblance was terrifying. 

"Are you serious?" Anna asked. "Like, you're not joking?"

"I'm serious," Clarke confirmed with a smile, watching a look of happiness take over Anna's face. "It's better to start now and get you used to it, since you'll be going home next week. I mean, obviously, we'll probably have someone push you around because you're still too weak to do that by yourself, not to mention your arm is in a cast, but unless you're not telling me about any more pain that you're experiencing I don't see why not. It's a beautiful day outside for winter."

Anna broke out into unprecedented joy and eagerly nodded her head. "Yes, please!"

"Cool, I'll grab a wheelchair and be right back," Clarke told her, smiling at her patient and Lexa one last time before grabbing the tablet and walking out of the room. She handed the device to a nurse at the station, remembering to sign off on giving Anna her pills before taking an unused wheelchair and opening it. 

"Clarke."

The blonde looked up to find her mother standing in front of her, blocking her way to Anna's room. "Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"Opening a wheelchair," Clarke answered, gesturing to the one in front of her. 

"You're an attending, Clarke. Head of a department, as a matter of fact."

"No need for the reminder. I'm fully aware of that."

"This is a job for an intern."

"I don't really remember this being listed as a requirement," Clarke said. "She's my patient, and I want to let her get some air. It's not conflicting with my schedule, so there's no problem here."

With that, Clarke pushed the wheelchair around her mother and walked back to Anna's room, smiling as if nothing was the matter. She parked the wheelchair next to Anna's bed and moved the IV bag so that it was hanging form a pole attached to the wheelchair before she had Lexa instruct her on how to help Anna out of bed. She was surprised at Lexa's strength, as the two of them were easily able to help the younger girl into the wheelchair. 

It was easy to see that Anna's mood had significantly improved, especially since this marked the first time that the girl was leaving her room for a reason other than going into surgery or taking scans. 

"Are you sure you can spare some time to do this?" Lexa asked worryingly, pushing Anna as Clarke walked beside her. 

"Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it," Clarke promised, waving her off. "I can spare a few minutes."

"I just don't want to get you in trouble," Lexa told her.

Clarke smiled in amusement at this. "Lexa, I'm fine, trust me."

"Yeah, Lexa, chill," Anna teased, turning around to see her sister glaring at her. 

"Shut up," Lexa muttered.

Clarke smiled at the two sisters, pushing the elevator button for them and getting in, heading towards the lobby.

"So, Dr. Griffin," Anna began, looking to her left where Clarke was standing. "How much of a badass do you consider yourself?" 

"Anna!"

"What? It's an innocent question."

"Why do you think I'm a badass?" Clarke asked her, amused at the choice of words. 

"You, like, drive a motorcycle and you're the best neurosurgeon in the world. You literally pulled out pieces of glass from my spine like it was nothing, and you let Aden drink with you at home. Your go-to spot is a cool sushi place and your choice of clothing is excellent. You're so cool."

"I wouldn't go so far as to label myself as a badass, nor am I the best surgeon in the world, but thank you for the lovely compliments," Clarke told her just as they stepped out of the elevator. "Besides, you're pretty cool, too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean, I was working shitty part-time jobs in high school and you're about to become the head of a multi-billion dollar empire," Clarke said, nudging Anna when she saw her blush. "Look at you, Ms. Corporate. You're a CEO at eighteen. You've beaten out Zuckerberg."

"Not yet, but she will in a few months," Lexa said. smiling when she saw her sister smile. They stepped out of the hospital lobby and towards the sunshine, enjoying the nice weather, pretty bizarre for winter. 

"Oh, my God, it's the fucking sun," Anna said. "Wow, I can't believe how I glad I am to see it."

"There's a little park out back that the hospital built specifically for the patients," Clarke informed them. "You up for it?"

"Yeah, but can we go the long way around? I kind of want to stay outside a little more," Anna admitted, and Clarke only looked to Lexa, who shrugged to signal that she didn't really care. 

"Sure, we can go to the left, then," Clarke told them, and they all began moving in that direction. 

"How long have you been a doctor?" Anna asked. 

"Well, I moved here when I finished my fellowship, so, almost ten years, I think," Clarke said. 

"Wait, when did you graduate med school?" Lexa asked. 

"Um, when I was twenty-three," Clarke told her. 

"You got an MD and a PhD at twenty-three?" Lexa asked in disbelief. "How?"

"Yeah, Lexa's a giant nerd, but she graduated law school like everyone else," Anna said.

"Well, I did dual-enrollment all four years of high school, and when I graduated, I only needed to do my senior year of college," Clarke explained. "Normally, colleges wouldn't accept you if you had done that, but my grandma was friends with the mother of the admissions director, so they let me in."

"Where?"

"University of Minnesota."

"Is that where you went to med school?"

Clarke blushed and looked at her feet. "No, actually, that was at Mayo."

"Mayo Clinic?" Anna asked. 

"That's the one."

"You're a genius, Clarke," Lexa told her. 

"Trust me, I'm not," Clarke told her. "Raven's a genius. I'm just studious."

"There's nothing wrong with being a hard worker," Lexa said. 

Clarke shrugged as they turned the corner and arrived at the small park. Anna had managed to convince them to leave her alone for a little while in front of the fountain, closing her eyes and enjoying the nice weather like many of the other patients and hospital staff. Lexa agreed, and she and Clarke took up residence on a bench nearby.

"So, have the workers come in to do the adjustments for the house?" Clarke asked.  

"Yeah, they started working on it yesterday, and I've placed an order for an electric wheelchair for her," Lexa said. 

"That's good," Clarke commented, and they stayed quiet for several moments, watching Anna strike up conversation with an elder patient. "Did you think about what I said?"

"Yeah." 

"And?"

Lexa took a deep breath before answering Clarke's question. "I'll do it. If it's for her, I'll do it."

Clarke frowned as she turned to Lexa. "You need to do this for yourself, too. You can't go around burying your own feelings and hiding behind your sister. She needs you, yes, but you need yourself, too."

Lexa swallowed visibly and looked down at her hands. "I keep seeing the accident over and over again."

Clarke brought a hand to rest on Lexa's shoulder in a comforting manner. "It may sound scary, Lexa, but you need to take this off of your chest. You need to talk to someone."

"I know," Lexa said quietly. 

**

"Your next surgery is at four o'clock, Dr. Reyes, for Justin Campbell," the nurse reminded her as Raven handed over the tablet.

"Okay, thank you," she told her. "I'm going to be talking to the chief. Page me if necessary."

"Will do, doctor," the nurse confirmed, and with that, Raven walked away. It was several minutes before she managed to reach Abby's office, knocking on the door before she had permission to enter.

"Raven," Abby said in surprise, putting the files down as she watched the orthopedics surgeon close the door behind her as she stepped into the office. "This is a surprise."

Raven gave Abby an empathetic smile. "I'm not Clarke, Abby."

Abby pulled her lips into a thin line, then gestured for Raven to sit down, watching in curiosity as the Latina took longer to sit down. "What can I help you with?"

"I'm going to need to pull the doctor-patient confidentiality card," Raven said, passing along the file that she had brought with her to Abby.

The elder Griffin furrowed her brows before taking a look at the name on the file, then looked back up at Raven. "Raven, no."

"Take a look inside," Raven told her, keeping her face blank.

Abby stared at the girl before gathering up the courage to open the folder, pulling out the notes and copies of scans. 

"It's cancer," Raven spoke, confirming Abby's fear. "And it's in my leg."

"Raven, I swear to you that there was no trace of this three years ago," Abby immediately stated, looking the woman in the eye. 

"I know," Raven said. "It's here now."

"When did you take these scans?" Abby asked. 

"I just came from CT. Dropped a few things at the nurse's station and went straight here," she said, feeling tears brim at her eyes. "Fuck."

"Raven."

"Fuck," Raven repeated, wiping away her tears, but they fell faster than she would've liked. She didn't even want them there in the first place. "Why am I crying?"

Abby stood up and made her way to the other side of the desk, engulfing the head of ortho in her arms. 

"Stop hugging me," Raven commanded weakly, trying to push Abby away, but ultimately giving up when she couldn't hold it in and had a breakdown in the middle of Abby's office. "Why me? Why does this always happen to me?"

"I don't know, sweetheart," Abby said, smoothing down the brunette's hair as she clung to Abby for dear life. 

"First my parents, then Finn, then my fucking legs," Raven sobbed. "Does it ever stop?"

Abby felt her heart break for Raven. She was like a second daughter to Abby, Octavia, too, and when she could see her pain and do nothing about it, well, that's how you kill a mother. 

It was half an hour before Raven calmed down, and another ten minutes before Abby dared to speak. "How long has it been hurting?"

"On and off for about a month," Raven answered with a hoarse voice, throat muscles swollen from all the crying. Her eyes and nose weren't much better off, aiding to the evidence of her misery by pointing out the fact that she'd been crying. 

"You've got chemo and amputation," Abby told her, laying out the options for Raven. "I think you need to go home and take the next few days off to think about it."

"I can't. Clarke and Octavia are going to find out," Raven said. 

"Is there someone outside the hospital that you can stay with for a few days? Rent out a hotel room if you have to. I'll just tell them you were pulled away for an emergency consult at another hospital," Abby said, looking Raven in the eye. "I will respect your decision and not say a word, but you have to take a few days off and think about this, Raven."

Red, glassy eyes stared at Abby before Raven nodded her head and gave in, admitting defeat. "Okay."

"I'll get someone to cover your surgeries and postpone them if we have to. Go home and pack a bag, Raven," Abby told her. 

Raven nodded as she wiped her eyes, then stood up. She moved to take the file, but Abby stopped her. 

"I'll take care of this," Abby told her, giving the young doctor one tight hug before the latter left the office. 

Raven kept her head down as she walked down the hallway, making her way to the closest bathroom. She freshened herself up a bit and tried to make it at least look like she hadn't been crying for the last forty minutes, but of course, there was only so much she could do. 

Miraculously, Raven managed to get to the attendings' lounge without anyone stopping her, and she nearly had a heart attack when she saw Wells on the couch, but upon closer inspection, he was asleep. 

With a deadly silence, she got dressed quickly and grabbed her things. It wasn't until she had her back to Wells and hands on the door knob that the cardio surgeon woke up. 

"Raven?" Wells asked, blinking his sleepiness away as he stared at the time on his phone. "Your shift doesn't usually end this early."

Without linking back at Wells, Raven opened the door and answered him as she stepped out. "Emergency consult at another hospital. Tell O she needs to catch a ride with Clarke."

Without waiting for Wells' response, she bolted out of the hospital and didn't stop until she was safely inside her car. Her leg was starting to throb, so she dug out her prescribed painkillers from her bag and swallowed then down with some water. She turned the engine on, but just sat there with no clear plan or idea on what to do or where to go. Abby had told her to think on her own for a few days about this decision, but all Raven wanted to do right now was cry and forget about her shitty situation. Without spending too much time dwelling on what to do, she turned the key in the ignition and left the parking lot, avoiding the direct route from the hospital to the house in favor of back roads and neighborhoods. 

Raven walked into the house and grabbed a duffel bag from her room, filling it with clothes and other necessary things. She wiped at the stray tears that kept falling here and there, and when she went back downstairs, she quickly scribbled a note with the excuse Abby told her to use an taped it to the fridge. Her watch told her that Aden was to be home any minute, so she quickly made her getaway and left the house. 

She found herself downtown ten minutes later, checking into a hotel that was always half-empty this time of year. She dumped the bag in her room and went to the bar in the hotel lobby, losing count of how many drinks she was having. Her vision was blurry and could barely focus, but the time on her phone told her that it was only six o'clock. 

She could feel a presence next to her at the bar, and Raven groaned, not really in the mood to be hit on at the moment.

"What's up, doc?”

Raven turned her head slightly and tried to focus her vision when she recognized the voice. It definitely wasn’t a patient or a co-worker. Maybe the family of a patient?

“Shit, you’re crying. What’s wrong?”

Ah, that’s why Raven couldn’t see very well. She wiped at her eyes and blinked a few times, recognizing Lexa’s boss in front of her. Amy? Anya? Something like that.

“Hey, I asked if you were alright,” Anya said in a concerned voice, holding Raven’s shoulders with both hands in attempt to get the surgeon to focus on her. 

“I feel like shit,” Raven told her, brushing off one of Anya’s hands to grab her drink and finish off the whiskey in the cup. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Anya asked, awkwardly letting go of Raven’s shoulder, only to have the doctor begin swaying, so Anya quickly rescued her grip on the Latina. “Or possibly puke all the whiskey up?”

“I just wanna sleep.”

Anya turned to the bartender for a glass of water, which he almost immediately placed in front of them, and Anya forced Raven to drink it.

“I’m gon’ die,” Raven laughed, earning a look of alarm from Anya, which made the former laugh even more. “I’m gon’ slowly die, and then I’ll live, and it’s going to hurt like a bitch.”

Without a word, the bartender refilled the glass with water, and Anya had to practically hold the glass for Raven to drink out of. “Look, I don’t know what the fuck you’re saying, but I’m not going to lie, it’s scaring me. I’m gonna call Lexa, and then I’m going to get your address from Clarke, and I’m going to drive you home, okay?”

“No, no home,” Raven refused, choking a little on some water that went down the wrong pipe. “Clarke and O and Aden are gon’ be sad. I’m jus’ gon’ go up and to bed.”

Raven slipped out of the barstool and nearly tripped over her own two feet, but managed to lean her weight against the bar with a lazy smile on her face. Anya sighed and told the bartender to keep Raven there for several minutes while she gathered her stuff. 

Anya took the four beers she originally came four and brought them back to the table, where she was celebrating with a few of her top lawyers over a difficult case they had just won that day. 

“You’re not staying?” One of them said, watching as Anya collected her bag and coat. 

“No, I have to help a friend. Enjoy that beer for me, and congrats on your win,” Anya said, moving back to where Raven was slumped against the bartender. Anya handed the bartender a few bills that would cover Raven’s bill and took Raven in return, trying to walk the girl to the elevator. That in itself proved to be a tedious task, because Raven’s brace combined with her intoxication made it more difficult than usual to walk. It wasn’t until they were inside the elevators that Anya didn’t know what floor Raven’s room was on. 

“Raven, what’s your room number?” Anya asked, turning her head to look at the girl, who was already half-asleep. Anya rolled her eyes. 

Without many other options, Anya stuck her hands through several of Raven’s pockets before she found the one with the room key in it, and thankfully it was still in the welcome card that held her room number. 

Ten minutes later, Raven was sleeping off the alcohol in bed and Anya was pressing her phone to her ear. 

_“Hello?”_

“Hey, Lex. How’s Anna doing?”

_“Hey. She’s doing a little better today, I think. We went out for some sun since the weather was so nice, and she really enjoyed it. She’s sleeping now, though.”_

“Good, good,” Anya said, watching Raven’s heavy breathing. “Did you make sure you ate properly today? I know how you get when you’re stressed and worried. I don’t want you losing so much weight so quickly. Otherwise, it’s going to be you in that bed instead of your sister.”

_“Yeah, I ate. Your mom swung by and brought some food for us today, though one of the nurses saw us and I had to eat it all since Anna’s not allowed. They were still pissed at her and me for that fried chicken the other day.”_

“Aw, that must’ve sucked for her,” Anya sympathized, moving around the room to stretch her legs a little bit. She paused at the dresser when she saw a two prescription bottles. One was opioids. Another was for depression. “Hey, do Clarke or Lincoln’s girlfriend happen to be in the vicinity?”

_“Last time I saw Clarke was a couple hours ago, and she said that she had to go into surgery, so she’s probably still there. I don’t know about Octavia, though. Why?”_

“If you find one of them, just get them to call me immediately.”

“ _Is everything okay?_ ” Lexa asked with concern laced in her voice.

“Honestly?” Anya sighed, putting the bottles down and looking back at Raven. “I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally!! An update. Gosh, I've been meaning to roll this one out for a while, but this semester has been a little weird for me, and I've got a few things on my plate at the moment that should hopefully slow down by the time May rolls around when I'm done with school for the summer. 
> 
> Thank you so much for sticking with me through this, and I'll try to write as much as I can, as often as I can. 
> 
> What did you guys think about this chapter?


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey, O, have you seen Raven?" Clarke asked as she passed the trauma surgeon in the hall. Clarke had gone into surgery to clip an aneurysm, but some complications during the surgery had extended the time she was in the OR by a few hours. The patient was stable and Clarke had just left post-op to look for the Latina to discuss Anna's therapy, but Raven hadn't been answering her pages. 

"Wells told me that she had to leave on some emergency consult or something for another hospital," Octavia said, backtracking to the OR. "I don't know much more than that, and I've got to head into surgery, but give me a ride home later?"

"Yeah, sure," Clarke said, waving at the younger Blake as she turned around and briskly jogged to the OR.

Clarke continued down the hallway to the nurse's station, handing over the chart for her patient. "Did any of you see Dr. Reyes before she left, by any chance?"

The few nurses at the desk shook their heads. 

"No, but the chief came by earlier, maybe two hours ago, and told us to postpone her surgeries. We were told that she was going to be gone for a few days," one of the nurses told her. 

Clarke thanked them and moved to stand in front of the erase board that held all of the scheduled surgeries, pursing her lips in though as she erased her own slot from the board. Raven wouldn't drop off this quickly without letting them know, and as far as Clarke knows, there hasn't been any major accidents or anything of the like that would require Raven's help at another hospital. It could have been a patient that wasn't in any condition to be transported, but Raven was a surgeon, and she could have done the consult by phone and stayed in the city. Clarke might have been overthinking it, but it seemed kind of bizarre, and while she could have gone to her mother, Clarke wasn't ever really in the mood to deal with her mother in the last few years. 

Seeing that she had nothing to do, and was a little behind on sleep, Clarke went to the nearest on-call room and collapsed in the nearest bed, taking a much deserved nap with her phone by her head, just in case.

**

Anya Stone was a professional. With under ten years of practice in law, she's managed to win and settle more cases than most lawyers in their early thirties, and to top it off, she was the head of her own law firm. 

She was a professional, not a nurse. 

"I bet you're gonna regret those last few whiskeys," Anya muttered, rubbing Raven's back as the doctor continued to vomit in the toilet. 

"Shut up," Raven groaned, leaning back against the wall. If she hadn't burnt a hole in her throat by now, she sure as hell was getting close. "Why the hell are you here, anyway?"

"Someone had to save you from drowning in alcohol," Anya said, closing the toilet and leaning over to flush it. She grabbed the glass of water sitting next to the sink and handed it to Raven. "Here, rinse and spit in the toilet."

Raven shivered and took the glass, waiting for Anya to lift the toiled seat before rinsing her mouth. "I'm cold. And I feel like shit. And I hurt."

"I knew doctors had shitty handwriting, but I didn't know their grammar sucked, too," Anya said, earning a glare from an unamused Raven. "Which ones?"

"What?"

"Which bottle of pills do you need?"

"There's a bottle of sleeping pills in my bag," Raven told her, drinking the last of the water after she'd finished rinsing her mouth.

Anya briefly left the doctor to search the duffel bag for the bottle of pills, and upon finding it, brought it back to her. "How many?"

"Just one," Raven told her, taking the pill and waiting for Anya to refill her cup so that she could wash it down with some water. "How did you find me?"

"You were drinking yourself into a coma downstairs," Anya answered, as if that wasn't obvious enough. "And I wasn't really trying to find you. I was out celebrating with a few of my employees because we just closed a big case, and you happened to be here."

"You go to hotel bars to celebrate?" Raven asked, and though she was feeling weak, she managed to raise a brow at the blonde in front of her.

"It's less crowded, and the drinks are usually more expensive," Anya shrugged. "So, do you want me to call Clarke or whomever to pick you up?"

"No," Raven said harshly, taking a moment to try and calm her erratic breathing. "I don't want them to know about this."

"The amount of alcohol you just drank combined with the pills you take cannot be a good combination," Anya said. "I'm not a doctor, but I at least know that much. What do you need opioids for?"

"Those are weak opioids," Raven said, trying to keep the nausea down. "They're not going to kill me."

"You are not in the right state of mind to determine that. You're still drunk. Five hours isn't enough time to get all of that alcohol out of your system," Anya said as she stood up. "I'm taking you to the hospital."

"I'm fine," Raven insisted, barely able to let the words out before she crawled back to the toilet and dumped out the contents of her stomach.

"Clearly," Anya mocked. She held back Raven's hair and waited until the girl was done heaving. She flushed the toilet and refilled the glass with water, helping Raven drink some so that she could rinse out her mouth. "I saw a frat boy overdose my sophomore year of high school. I'm not risking this shit."

"Fine. Get my phone," Raven told her. Anya momentarily left the doctor's side to retrieve the phone from the bedside table before heading back. "Password is 387918. Call Abby Griffin and put her on speaker."

Anya clicked on the contact and they waited a few seconds before the line connected. " _Raven? What's wrong? Are you okay?_ "

"Abby," Raven said, leaning her head back against the cool surface of the bathroom wall. "I need you to keep this quiet."

" _It's already under wraps. No one knows._ "

"I mean this," Raven said. "A friend is going to drive me to the hospital. I need you to pump my stomach."

" _What?_ " Abby hissed. " _Raven, what did you do?_ "

"It's a combination of whiskey and my meds. We'll be there soon."

" _Raven, where are yo—_ "

The Latina used up the last of her strength to hang up, then turned to Anya. "You need to get me there before one of my organs fail."

**

"You excited for your birthday tomorrow?" Anna asked Aden, as she, Aden, Charlotte, and Tris made their way through a game of thirteen. "The big one-eight."

"Eh," Aden shrugged, drawing a card before tossing it in the pile. "It's not a big deal, really."

"Sure, it is," Charlotte said, picking up Aden's discarded seven. "You're going to be a legal adult. You can vote now."

"You can sign your own forms," Tris added, waiting for Charlotte to switch out her cards. "You can finally subscribe to Pornhub without your mom knowing."

"Okay, rude," Aden called out as the others laughed, glancing at Lexa out of the corner of his eyes, who was immersed in her work with headphones covering her ears. 

"Don't worry. She can't hear anything," Anna told him. "Angsty music always makes the perfect court prep playlist."

"So, Twenty One Pilots?" Tris asked, glaring at Charlotte. "My God, Char. Just pick a damn card already."

"Don't get your panties in a twist. Math is difficult for me," Charlotte told her, finally putting down the same king she picked up, sticking her tongue out at Tris. 

"You did that to annoy me."

"Maybe."

Tris rolled her eyes and picked up the king, exchanging it for a two before showing the others her cards. "I'm out."

At that moment, Clarke stuck her head in the doorway.

"Hi, mom," Aden waved, waiting for Anna to finish her turn.

"Hey, sweetie," Clarke smiled. "Are you kids doing okay in here?"

"Dr. G, Aden is gonna be a real man in a few hours," Tris told her. "You better enjoy the rest of that time, because you won't be able to call him a kid."

Clarke rolled her eyes playfully. "Right, I'll be sure to cherish those moments."

"Hey, Dr. G," Charlotte said as Aden changed his cards and revealed them. 

"Yes, Charlotte?"

"Are you free Saturday night?"

Aden whipped his head to his left. "Dude! What the fuck?"

"What?" Charlotte asked with a mischievous grin on her face. 

"Aden," Clarke scolded. 

"Stop asking my mom out," Aden told her. 

"Why? Your mom is hot," Charlotte said, sending a wink Clarke's way as the doctor crossed her arms and leaned against the threshold. "She's got the whole Grey's Anatomy aesthetic going."

"And what would that entail?" Clarke asked, to which all the teenagers but Aden laughed. Her son had a horrified look on his face. 

"Mom!"

"Well, you've got the beauty and brains going for you," Charlotte told her. "Twelve out of ten, would recommend again."

"I'm going to fire you as my friend," Aden told Charlotte. "Like, seriously. Shut up. I can't unhear that."

"Like how you can't unhear me saying hot bod?" Clarke teased, sticking her tongue out barely at her son. 

"Dr. G, you're the best," Anna told her, laughing as Aden attempted to crawl and hide under Anna's bed for the rest of eternity. 

"Thank you," Clarke smiled, then glanced at Lexa, who seemed to be in her own little world surrounded by her work in the corner. "Is she busy? A nurse told me she wanted to talk to me."

At that, Anna grabbed her empty cup and tossed it at Lexa's head, scaring the living daylights out of her sister, who immediately took off her headphones. "Don't do that. I'm writing with a pen."

"You've been doing that for over a decade and a half," Anna reminded her. "Dr. G is here."

Lexa looked to the door, and saw Clarke wave at her. "Oh, sorry."

"You wanted to see me?" Clarke asked. 

"Yeah, actually," Lexa said, standing up. "I got a call from—"

The beeping of Clarke's pager cut her off. Clarke took one look at it and immediately backtracked into the hall. "Sorry, it's an emergency! I'll swing by later."

Clarke was already running down the hall before Lexa could say anything. Aden stuck his head out from under the bed. "Is she gone?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a shortish chapter, but I wanted to make sure that I got something out here. Comment what you thought!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm not going to lie. The reason that I put this chapter off for so long was that I wasn't exactly happy with the way it turned out. I'm forcing myself to put it out there so that I could get feedback and try to improve it. 
> 
> It was supposed to be posted last week, but apparently, I didn't hit the publish button.
> 
> Let me know what you think!

"Oh, my God," Clarke gasped, rushing right away when she saw who was on the table. "Raven!"

The brunette's head was over the side of the table, throwing up on the floor. 

"What the hell happened?" Clarke asked, moving to Raven's side to hold her steady.

"She mixed alcohol with her medication," Octavia told her, just barely out of surgery. 

Clarke's eyes widened, and she turned to her mother in anger. "I thought you said she went to a hospital as a consult!"

"Not the time, Clarke," Octavia hissed as Raven collapsed back on the table. "We need to pump her stomach before she starts throwing up again. Get her on her side. Someone get me a tube and prep saline!"

They rolled Raven on her side, and Octavia moved behind the Latina's head. She opened Raven's mouth and prepared to shove it down Raven's throat. 

"Raven, try not to throw up," Octavia told her friend, though it wasn't as if the Latina could do much about it. She was barely conscious. Octavia quickly pushed the tube down Raven's throat, though Raven tried to fight against it. "Raven, don't fight it. Swallow the tube, swallow." Eventually, they were able to push it down, and Octavia blew air so that she could listen to the sound and know whether it made it to her stomach. "Saline, please."

Clarke handed Octavia the saline and watched as they squirted it down the tube. Clarke herself grabbed the suction and traded places with Octavia to suction all the liquid out of Raven's stomach. Raven was shaking and her entire face was red. "Raven, stay with us. We're almost done."

After they turned off the suction, Clarke focused her attention on pulling the tube out. "Raven, we're going to pull the tube out, okay? Stay with us. It's going to feel uncomfortable, but we'll do it quickly, okay?"

Raven's eyes were darting around, and she tried to blink hard to signal that she understood. Clarke began pulling the tube out of Raven, and the Raven felt her throat constrict and open up as the tube was being pulled out. 

"Almost done, Rae," Clarke told her, and as soon as they pulled the tube out, Clarke and Octavia began wiping away the saliva, sweat, and tears from Raven's face. "You're going to be okay, Rae. We're all done. You're going to be fine."

**

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Clarke yelled in Abby's office. "What were you _thinking_?"

"Clarke, calm down," Octavia told her, watching as Abby held an impassive look on her face. 

"Calm down? _Calm down_?" The blonde hissed at her friend. "Raven nearly killed herself! Of course I'm not going to fucking calm down! I don't want to bury another person in my life!"

"Clarke, I get it, but you need to sit the fuck down," Octavia said. "You're not helping anyone by yelling. This office isn't soundproof. People can hear you outside."

"To hell with that!"

" _Clarke_ ," Octavia repeated, having a stare down with the blonde, who eventually listened and took a seat, anger running through her veins. "Thank you." Octavia then turned to Abby. "We're going to discuss this like adults. Why did you cover for Raven?"

"I can't tell you that," Abby said.

"Is this about her leg?" Octavia asked, and at the chief's silence, Octavia assumed that she was right. "You know that in the cases of self-harm, you have to share her information. We're her emergency contacts, so you can't hide anything."

Abby was quiet for a moment, then sighed and opened a drawer, pulling out Raven's file. She took out the scans and gave them to Octavia and Raven. Octavia and Clarke shared a look, then hesitantly accepted the scans. 

"You're doctors," Abby told them, and the two friends shared a look before lifting the scans up to the light.

Clarke took one look at the scans and immediately knew what it was. "When did she find out?"

"Earlier today," Abby answered. "She needed time off to think about her treatment."

"Treatment?" Clarke scoffed. "There's only chemo or we amputate her leg. What else is there?"

"You're right. There isn't anything other than that, and I didn't want her working and operating on other people while that was on her mind."

"You could've restricted her to scut work or _something_."

"Clarke, I know you're pissed right now, but if someone told you that you had to choose between chemo and losing a limb in order to _maybe_ have a chance at living, would you really be able to go on like everything's fine?" Octavia asked, trying to knock her friend out of her angry cloud and get her to see things reasonably. "Or what if Aden told you that he had cancer and those were his only two options?"

Octavia knew it was a low blow, but at least it threw Clarke off, and by the way the blonde slumped back in her seat and stared at the floor, she at least understood where Abby was coming from when she covered for Raven.

"Fuck," Clarke whispered, covering her eyes with her hands. "What are we going to do?"

"Right now, we'll just have to wait until she recovers. She needs to make a choice, and whatever one she does make, we have to make sure we're there for her."

Clarke's shoulders noticeably began to shake, and her sobs escaped her mouth. "Dammit. _Fuck_. Not another one."

"Clarke—" Abby began, but she was cut off by the blonde.

"How on earth is this fair?" Clarke growled in anger, furiously wiping away her tears. 

"It isn't," Octavia said, placing a gentle hand on Clarke's shoulder. "Maybe you should go home. You can't work like this."

Clarke took a few deep breathes, trying to calm herself down. It took a little over five minutes before she could will the tears to get lost, but the evidence of her moment of weakness was still there. "I'm going to stay with Raven."

"Okay," Abby said quietly, swallowing whatever comfort she wanted to give to her daughter, who wouldn't accept it from her anyway. "I will call someone to fill in for you."

"Go wash up. I'll take care of everything here," Octavia said, patting Clarke's back. 

The blonde wiped away the tear trails before standing up and walking out of the office. 

Abby let out a sigh after Clarke vacated the room, rubbing the bridge of her nose. 

"She'll come around, Abby," Octavia said. "Just giver her some time. Now, about Raven..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some comments! Would love to hear your feedback.


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